French Open: Amelie Mauresmo says tournament can ‘do better’ on night scheduling

Former grand slam champion Amelie Mauresmo, now serving as the director of the French Open, has called for improved night scheduling at the prestigious tournament, while noting that prime slots are becoming more evenly distributed between male and female players.

This year’s French Open, held at Roland Garros from May 28 to June 11, had only one women’s match scheduled for the night: Aryna Sabalenka’s fourth-round duel with Sloane Stephens. This disparity was highlighted by world number three Jessica Pegula, who expressed her disappointment in an interview with Sport Newes Center.

Mauresmo, however, offered a measured defense of the current scheduling approach. She highlighted that, excluding night sessions, the distribution of matches during prime time was significantly more balanced. Despite this progress, Mauresmo agreed that improvements could be made for the night scheduling.

“We certainly placed more women’s matches in prime slots this year. Yet, it’s still not perfect because of the night sessions,” Mauresmo admitted. She also pointed out that some high-profile female players preferred not to compete at night, complicating the scheduling process.

The situation was deemed “tricky” by former French Open champion and ex-BBC presenter Sue Barker, who suggested that the women’s game needs bigger rivalries to spur increased interest. Barker noted that following Serena Williams’ departure, there’s a need for new notable figures in women’s tennis.

In addition to the scheduling issue, Mauresmo praised the atmosphere at Roland Garros, despite some incidents involving the crowd. Players such as Taylor Fritz and Daria Kasatkina faced negative crowd reactions, but Mauresmo emphasized that there had been no formal complaints about crowd behavior.

She attributed the overall positive atmosphere to the favorable weather this year, contrasting it with the previous year’s colder conditions that might have affected enjoyment of the tournament. She also acknowledged one particular incident during the Fritz vs Rinderknech match but otherwise commended the enthusiastic crowd.

The tournament’s broadcast and live updates were available on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra and the Sport Newes Center website and app. Notifications about tennis news could be directly sent to users’ phones.