WTC
French Open tournament director Amelie Mauresmo admitted on Sunday that scheduling at Roland Garros is “not perfect” after world number three Jessica Pegula claimed women’s tennis is “undervalued”.
Only one of the 10 night sessions on Court Philippe Chatrier this year featured a women’s singles match in a carbon copy of the 2022 scheduling.
“I’m not saying every match is going to be an amazing match but if we don’t have the opportunity, how are we ever going to show it?” Pegula wrote in a BBC column.
“We know people like women’s tennis, and the fans like to watch it, but it feels like our product is undervalued here and in Europe in general.”
While insisting that some “high profile” players do not want to appear in the night sessions in Paris, Mauresmo said “it doesn’t make it perfect yet” and that organisers “can do better”.
Mauresmo said that the tournament does not want to imitate the Australian and US Opens where two singles matches feature in each night session but can often lead to finishes in the early hours of the following morning.
She also said that a degree of gender parity is being achieved by the presence of more women’s matches on the tournament’s other main arena at Court Suzanne Lenglen.
“I’m comfortable with both our two main courts. Two main courts, they are equal,” said the former world number one.
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