Controversies seem to be taking over the French Open at the moment. From the ever-passionate PSG fans with their fireworks to the scheduling of matches, we’re seeing it all. There was another controversy boiling over as American tennis sensation Coco Gauff, along with Ons Jabeur and Iga Swiatek, called on the tournament to improve its scheduling and include more women’s matches in the night slot. While other major events have an equal balance of men’s and women’s matches in the night schedule, the French Open has more men’s matches at night; for more context, the last time a women’s match was scheduled for that slot was in 2023. Recently, Jannik Sinner broke his silence on this matter and revealed if things should change.

Earlier today, Sinner breezed past Jiri Lehecka in straight sets to enter the fourth round. The Italian star took no time in dispatching the challenge of his Czech Republican opponent as he dominated the contest right from the word go to defeat Lehecka 6-0, 6-1, 6-2. After the match, he was asked if the scheduling of the French Open should change.

Talking about it, Sinner said, “Yeah, I’ve heard some players, no? We don’t make the schedule. We are players and we don’t make the schedule. We have the same amount of men’s and women’s matches on the big courts. We have the same amount of prize money on men’s and women’s.”

Further, he went on to add, “The night schedule, I don’t make the schedule. So I cannot give you any feedback. I don’t want to comment on that or go into details. I think we have equal so many things at the moment here, and it’s nice to see. So maybe things can change in the future. I don’t know.”

Take the example of today’s schedule at Roland Garros. Novak Djokovic’s match against Filip Misolic was scheduled for the night session at Court Philippe-Chatrier, despite Djokovic requesting a day slot so he could catch the Champions League final. Whereas the likes of Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula had to play in the day session on the same court. This didn’t go down well with some female stars, who called out the French Open for their biased scheduling.

Coco Gauff and Ons Jabeur complained about unequal scheduling for men and women

Over the years, the French Open has essentially reserved the night spot for men’s singles to increase the viewership during the prime spot. However, the likes of Ons Jabeur and Coco Gauff disapproved of this tradition and called for a balanced mix of women’s and men’s matches at night.

Following her second-round victory, Coco  Gauff said, “I talked about this a few days ago, and to be honest, I didn’t really have all the facts about the situation. I do think that women’s matches are worthy of a night spot. And I think, to be honest, if there were gonna be two spots [in Paris], I don’t think that a woman should play after the men at 8:15.”

Further, Jabeur said, “You know, it’s a bit ironic. They don’t show women’s sport, they don’t show women’s tennis, and then they ask the question, ‘Yeah, but mostly they watch men.’ Of course they watch men more because you show men more. Everything goes together.” While this tradition might not change in the ongoing edition, the French Open organizers could pay heed to the complaints of the female players and have equal number of men’s and women’s matches at night.