This year’s French Open was quite exceptional in many ways. It achieved grand success, witnessed a few controversial moments, and overall, it was a full package of entertainment. Talking about successes first, according to various stats, the women’s singles final between Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka across TNT and truTV saw a jump of 94% in comparison to the previous season. It was the most-watched Roland Garros women’s final since 2016. Even the men’s final saw a similar success, making milestones with staggering numbers! However, when it comes to controversies, the French Open scheduling sparked a major backlash over women’s time slots. Players like Coco Gauff, Ons Jabeur, and a few others criticized the tournament organizers for not scheduling women’s matches in prime slots. Following these major criticisms from the players, WTA’s CEO, Portia Archer, has now also opened up on this topic. What is she saying, though?

There were no women’s matches in any of the 11 prime-time night sessions on Court Philippe-Chatrier this year. What’s more interesting is that, since the French Open introduced night sessions in 2021, only four of those matches have been from the women’s draw. The last women’s singles match to be played in the night session at this iconic stadium was a fourth-round match between America’s Sloane Stephens and Aryna Sabalenka on June 4, 2023.

Seeing this, Tunisian tennis star Ons Jabeur stated, “I hope whoever is making the decision (on scheduling), I don’t think they have daughters, because I don’t think they want to treat their daughters like this. It’s a bit ironic. They don’t show women’s sport, they don’t show women’s tennis, and then they (say), ‘Yeah, but mostly they watch men.’ Of course, they watch men more because you show men more. Everything goes together.” Later on, she also shared a lengthy social post claiming that honoring one side of the sport shouldn’t mean ignoring the other. Her point was pretty on this, and even American star Coco Gauff also gave a nod to Jabeur.

Coco Gauff said, “I feel like we produce some high-quality tennis, and we have some great stars on the women’s side who fans, I’m sure, would love to see.” The current world number one, Aryna Sabalenka, said that there were a lot of great matches, which could be cool to see as night sessions. She opined that women’s tennis stars deserve to be put on a bigger stage, with better timing and more people watching. After seeing these complaints, the WTA spokesperson had previously issued a statement saying that the WTA encourages all combined tournaments to provide a balanced match schedule that showcases both women’s and men’s tennis, also in the premium slot.

Now, Portia Archer has come up with a statement backing the WTA stars. She said that she expects to meet the French Open tournament director, Amelie Mauresmo, to see how they can “effect change.” But having said that, she claimed that she doesn’t believe the issue lies with any individual. “I just think it’s a missed opportunity. I think the fans expect, and increasingly we’ll see that they demand, that they have the opportunity to see the best tennis matches—whether they are men or women’s—in prime-time slots. I think their [TV] rights partners may very well have a role to play in this and have something to say on behalf of fans as well.“

Reacting to Jabeur’s statements, Archer said, “I thought Ons shared a very eloquent message. I think we’ll have conversations with Grand Slams and various events who are operating in what we believe is a way that’s different to what the fans and the public demand. I would encourage fans to do the same. It is something that we will continue to push for and continue to advocate for—it’s in our DNA at the WTA.”

Talking about Mauresmo’s role in the decision-making at the Roland Garros, she said that she doesn’t think of it in terms of an individual (making the choice), but it’s broader than that. Something more foundational and more systematic. What has been the reaction from the tournament organizers on this, though?

Unlike the US Open and the AO, which sell separate tickets for night sessions and typically include one women’s and one men’s singles match, Roland Garros offers only one match per evening. Talking about preferences, previously, the French Open president, Gilles Moretton, defended the tournament’s decision by saying the “best match” was scheduled at night. But what has Amelie Mauresmo had to say on this?

Amelie Mauresmo’s reply to complaints from WTA stars like Coco Gauff and Ons Jabeur

In this issue, where Coco Gauff, Ons  Jabeur, and Aryna Sabalenka were heard raising their concerns, Iga Swiatek took a slightly different route. She stated that she likes playing in the day session, and so she’s happy with it. But reacting to the complaints about women not being worthy enough to get the prime slot in the evening, Amelie Mauresmo said, “For me, the message I always said and I will repeat… as I said, the conditions haven’t changed from having one unique match in the evening. For me, the message is not changing.”

She further added, “It has never been that the girls are not worthy to play at night. It’s never been this. I will not accept that you carry this message. That’s really clear to me. What I’m saying is I’m talking and we are talking because I’m not the only one to make the decisions about potential match length. In this perspective, it is hard to say that the two sets can go really fast when the 3 sets, you have 3 sets minimum. So it’s… I don’t know… 1 and a half hours, 2 hours, maybe more, I don’t know. For me, it’s the length of the matches. It’s not how they play or the level they reach right now, especially right now. I’m not talking about this.“

Amid all these criticisms raised by Coco Gauff and others surrounding the scheduling issues at the 2025 French Open, the tournament organizers came up with a groundbreaking decision. They named five female officials to officiate for the mega final, and guess what? This was the first time that something like this happened in this tournament. Eva Asderaki officiated the men’s singles, and Marijana Veljovic took the responsibility for officiating the women’s singles. Aurelie Tourtle and Miriam Bley were the chair umpires for the men’s and women’s doubles, respectively. While Lara Morgan was in charge of the mixed doubles. What are your thoughts on this decision made by the French Open officials?