Coco Gauff Raises Alarm Over French Open as Tournament Director Issues Bold Response That Shakes Things Up

For the fourth year in a row, the French Open has come under scrutiny for its night session scheduling, with criticism mounting over the near-total absence of women’s singles matches in the prime-time slot. Since the introduction of the night sessions in 2021, Roland Garros has featured 36 evening matches across the initial rounds, yet only two have involved women players. This year, as of Friday, no women’s match had been scheduled for the night session, reigniting long-standing concerns about representation and visibility in one of tennis’s most prestigious Grand Slam events.

Unlike the US Open and Australian Open—both of which sell separate tickets for night sessions and typically include one women’s and one men’s singles match—Roland Garros offers only a single match per evening. Wimbledon, meanwhile, does not sell night session tickets and adheres to an 11 p.m. local time cutoff. The French Tennis Federation, however, maintains a contractual obligation with its domestic streaming partner to deliver one match per night in European prime time during the first week and a half of the tournament. Critics argue that the ongoing pattern of scheduling men’s matches exclusively in this slot undermines the visibility and commercial appeal of women’s tennis.

Speaking on this issue, Tunisian star Ons Jabeur remarked, “In Europe, in general, it’s unfortunate for women’s sports in general. Not for tennis, but for in general. I hope whoever is making the decision, 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 sports, they don’t show women’s tennis, and then they ask the question, yeah, but mostly they (viewers) watch men. Of course, they watch men more because you show men more. Everything goes together.” With the conversation gaining traction, Coco Gauff was also asked about the scheduling imbalance during a press conference, where she shared her thoughts on how the night sessions are currently structured.

Speaking about it, she said, “To be honest, prove me wrong, but I don’t think any girl wants to play after the 8:15 match. I think there is a unique topic because there is only one slot at 8:15. To be honest, I don’t think any girl.. I mean, prove me wrong, but I don’t think anyone wants to play after the 8:15 match. I don’t know what the other girls would think, but I think most people would rather play before that. Maybe there’s a chance to put someone at 6:30 or 7:00. I think if there is only gonna be one match at 8:15, maybe there could be a women’s match. But if they wanna start the night session at 8:15, I’m sure most girls on tour would rather not play after a men’s match and have to go on at 11:00 or 12:00. I think it’s just tournament to tournament. This tournament, this seems to me what they want. But most tournaments do have two matches, one starting at 7:00 and one afterwards. I can’t really complain. I think it’s just up to the tournament, honestly.”

After seeing all the buzz surrounding the scheduling, Mauresmo was asked to reflect on the same. During a recent press conference, the tournament director was asked, “What do you think the consequences are of essentially telling women that they’re not worthy?” In reply to that, she said, “That’s not what we are saying. I have to stop you right there.”

She further added, “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. 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. I mean, what would you do?“

Replying to her question, the journalist said, “What would I do? You really wanna know? I would solve the problem so the women don’t receive the message that you’re not trying to give them.” Hearing this, Amelie Mauresmo wrapped up the discussion quickly, saying, “That’s what you think the message is. That’s your interpretation…You know, we wouldn’t have this conversation… maybe we talk about it on last Sunday.“

Interestingly, even the French Open president, Gilles Moretton, also defended the tournament’s decision by saying the “best match” was scheduled at night. “Sometimes … for the night session, we need to put the better match, we think could be for the spectators. Maybe we will have a few, I have no idea, a few female matches on the night sessions. We’ll see. Depends on the schedule, who is playing who, which will be the best match.“ We’ve heard what Coco Gauff and Ons Jabeur had to say on this, but what is the defending champion, Iga Swiatek’s take on this matter?

Does Iga Swiatek share a similar opinion on this with players like Coco Gauff and others?

Well, if we take a look back, the last women’s singles match to be played under the lights of the Court Philippe Chatrier was a fourth-round encounter between Aryna Sabalenka and America’s Sloane Stephens on June 4, 2023. Talking on this topic last year, the four-time champion (2020,2022,2023,2024) shared a very interesting opinion. Previously, the Pole claimed that she prefers playing in the daytime so that she can get to bed at a more reasonable time.

Now, when it came to this schedule controversy, last year she said, “Honestly, sorry to say that, but I don’t care, because I’m honestly just focusing on my matches. And I like playing during the day, so it’s comfortable for me that I can be scheduled that way. I think it’s better to ask someone who is responsible for scheduling, at picking these matches. Probably there are many factors coming in, a lot of requests, you know.“

After Ons Jabeur and Coco Gauff’s comments, even this year, Swiatek took a similar path, adding, “Every year we talk about it. My position didn’t change. I like playing day. So I’m happy I’m done and can have a longer rest. On the other hand, people just try to look for, like, not even things between men and women. You can find that in the schedule a bit, and you can ask us all the time. Honestly, my answers are not gonna change. I don’t mind.“

Both Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek have been in red-hot form at the 2025 French Open, and both of them have already secured their spots in the third round. Keeping all these off-court issues aside, who do you think has a better chance of lifting the title this year?