Former French Tennis Legend Was Once Ridiculously Mocked Using an Arnold Schwarzenegger Reference for Her Physique

Former French tennis player, Amelie Mauresmo, was one of the best players from her country, as she achieved no.1 ranking back in 2004. However, she often received criticism regarding her looks and physique. Back in 1999, when she was only 19 years old, a French TV program mocked her using Hollywood actor and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger’s reference.

Notably, when she was playing in the Australian Open in 1999, she received criticism from fellow players like Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport as well. Although they later clarified their comments, it had a deep impact on Mauresmo.

French TV showed once mocked Amelie Mauresmo

There was a satire program on French television that used puppets to portray national celebrities at that time. During that program, they used Mauresmo’s face in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s body to represent Mauresmo. Moreover, the voiceover that was coming from the puppet also talked about the French player’s sexuality.

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When she made her mark on the WTA tour at the 1999 Australian Open, Mauresmo also received flak from her peers. Swiss ace Martina Hingis said, “She’s half a man”. 

Joining Hingis in ridiculing the French star,  American legend Lindsay Davenport also talked about her experience of playing Mauresmo.

“A couple of times I thought I was playing a guy,” Davenport revealed.

However, both of them later blamed the media for taking their comments out of context. The French star, however remained unbothered and went on to make her country extremely proud as she won two Grand Slam titles – one Australian Open, and one at Wimbledon ,in 2006.

After retiring from professional tennis in 2009, she became a tennis coach. Interestingly, 3-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray picked her to be his coach, which lasted around 2 years. Currently, Mauresmo is the tournament director at the French Open.

Mauresmo received criticism from Chris Evert and Iga Swiatek

As the tournament director of the French Open, Mauresmo scheduled the night matches for the first time in this year’s French Open. However, she was only able to schedule one women’s match and the rest of them were all men.

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Speaking about it, she talked about the difficulties of scheduling as she wanted to attract more fans. Current world no.1 Iga Swiatek felt disappointed by her comments as she found the need to have more women’s matches at night considering the unpredictability factor of the WTA tour.

Also, legendary American player Chris Evert pointed out that Mauresmo did not schedule any women’s match in the night session, which was a big mistake on her part. After receiving backlash from the players, Mauresmo clarified her statement and fans can look forward to a more balanced French Open schedule next year.