PARIS — Coco Gauff on Thursday said “women’s matches deserve a night’s place” as there is room for “improvement” France’s opening schedule and Roland Garos organizers continue playing men’s matches.
Ons Jabeur was extremely critical of the Roland Garros organizers on Wednesday, as he likes to place a male singles match in slots in the evening. Since the introduction of night sessions in 2022, only two of the 34 games have featured female singles.
So far, this year’s Grand Slam event has featured men’s singles matches every day in night slots. In comparison, the first match at Court Court Philippe-Chatrier usually takes place in front of a sparse crowd, with all four openers this year being female singles.
“It’s still sad that we’re still watching this,” Yabul said Wednesday. “I stand in my words.”
Gauff agreed with Jabeur, adding that it is unfair to place a women’s match in second place if the organizers play two matches in the evening (usually locally at 8:15pm).
“I don’t think women should play after the men at 8:15,” Gouf said after winning his second victory over Teleza Valentois on Thursday. “I think that’s unfair.”
“If they play one match at 8:15, there’s certainly a chance to put women there. If you put two slots, if the first match starts at 8:15, I don’t think there’s a need to play women’s matches after the men’s matches.
Jabour’s criticism comes after President Jill Moreton of the French tennis federation said “we need to play a better match (at night) for the audience.”
Gouf said women’s matches could meet that requirement.
“It feels like we’re producing some high quality tennis. And we have some great stars on the side of women. “From my experience, I play in the evening game at 7pm at the US Open and Novak (Djokovic) follows me. He’s the best player of all time.
“Like Australia, it’s the same as anywhere else I play. Night matches, people were excited (me) too. I think there’s an opportunity to improve that in the future with this tournament.”