Home

Tennis

‘Tougher to Schedule a Woman’s Match’ – French Open Director Clears Up Her Stance After Heavy Backlash From Martina Navratilova, Iga Swiatek, and Others

Published 06/03/2022, 8:46 AM EDT

Follow Us

via Getty

The French Open is going in a full swing. However, no major is spared of one controversy or the other. Amelie Mauresmo, the tournament’s director, recently made comments about women’s matches not being too appealing. Undoubtedly, this caused an uproar and the director now clarified her statements and apologized for what she said.

Emilie Mauresmo on the schedule of matches at the French Open 2022

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

On the issue of scheduling women’s matches at night, Mauresmo talked to the Tennis Channel regarding her take on the issue. Initially, she apologized for her statement and gave a clarification for it.

“I am a big fighter, equal rights, women’s tennis, women in general.” The director drew criticism for conducting only one match of women out of the 10-night match sessions. Players like Martina Navratilova and Iga Swiatek criticized her for it.

Trending

Get instantly notified of the hottest Tennis stories via Google! Click on Follow Us and Tap the Blue Star.

Follow Us

She added that regarding the scheduling of the match at the French Open 2022; It was so that ticket holders can watch longer matches played by male players.

“It is really tougher to schedule a women’s match because we have to take into consideration the length; I feel. That’s the fair kind of thing to do for the ticket holder.”

USA Today via Reuters

A fairground at the Roland Garros

Mauresmo assured the audience that there would be changes from next year onwards. She further stated, “I mean try to find a better solution to be fair to everyone. I took over this year but these parts I didn’t decide. We try to modernize the event; we try to move forward and I can see that there are some adjustments to be made.”

She also gave an example of solving this conundrum.

“In order to be able to be more fair to the women’s player as well as to both the categories actually, it would be good to put the possibility of two matches or women’s match or double’s match.” 

via Reuters

What is going on in the French Open 2022?

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

The French Open 2022 has taken a wild turn with the world no. 1 Novak Djokovic and young tennis sensation Carlos Alcaraz Garfia out of the clay-court major. Alexander Zverev and Rafael Nadal will face each other in the semi-finals.

via Reuters

Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff are in the finals of the French Open 2022. The fans are excited to see the new generation of astounding tennis players have a face-off against each other.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

WATCH THIS STORY: Novak Djokovic’s epic finals against Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Andy Murray, Wilfried Tsonga at the Australian Open

Who do you think will reign over the clay-court major? Let us know in the comments below.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Shivali Sharma

1,438Articles

One take at a time

Shivali Sharma is a tennis author at EssentiallySports. She has pursued her Master's in history from Himachal University, but her love for the game has driven her to write about tennis. Shivali is a huge fan of Naomi Osaka and admires Osaka not only for her on-court performances, but also for her off-court actions.
Show More>