Amelie Mauresmo said she tried on a daily basis to find a women's pairing that had the star power or a match-up worthy of being highlighted in separate session that began at 8.45pm local time in Court Philippe Chatrier; French Open tournament director has since apologised for her comments
Sunday 5 June 2022 17:31, UK
French Open tournament director Amelie Mauresmo has apologised after saying women's tennis currently has less "appeal" than the men's game.
Speaking in a news conference on Wednesday, Mauresmo said she had tried on a daily basis to find a women's pairing that had the star power or a match-up worthy of being highlighted in the separate session that began at 8.45pm local time in Court Philippe Chatrier. "I admit it was tough," she said.
This year's French Open began on May 22 and will end on Sunday. The last of the 10 night sessions was scheduled for Wednesday, and the only women's match that got the prime-time treatment was France's Aliz Cornet's victory over Jelena Ostapenko in the second round.
Asked about that decision-making process, Mauresmo said in French that having just one match in each night session made it more difficult to have that be only a women's match. Night sessions at the US Open, for example, usually include one women's match and one men's match.
"In this era that we are in right now, I don't feel - and as a woman, former women's player, I don't feel bad or unfair saying that, right now you have more... appeal," Mauresmo said. "That's the general (reasons) for the men's matches."
She added: "My goal was, when I was doing the schedule every day, to try and see, from the first round, when the draw came out... what match in the woman's draw can I put there? Honestly."
However, speaking to the Tennis Channel on Thursday, Mauresmo said: "First of all the comments that I made were taken out of the wider picture, out of the context.
"And I want to say sorry to the players that really felt bad about what I said.
"Again, I think the people who know me, who've known me on and off the court, throughout my career, throughout everything that I've done, know that I'm a big fighter for equal rights and women's tennis, women in general."
World No 1 Iga Swiatek said on Wednesday she found Mauresmo's initial comments "disappointing and surprising".
She said: "Oh, it is a little bit disappointing and surprising because she was also in the WTA.
"But from my point of view, for every player it's more convenient to play at normal hour, but for sure I want to entertain and I also want to show my best tennis in every match.
"So I think it's kind of the personal opinion of every person if they like men's tennis or women's tennis more, or if they like them equally. But I think women's tennis has a lot of advantages.
"And some may say that it's unpredictable and girls are not consistent.
"But on the other hand it may also be something that is really appealing and it may really attract more people. So it depends on the personal views of some people."
Mauresmo's session with reporters on Wednesday was held the morning after 13-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal's quarter-final victory over defending champion Novak Djokovic in Tuesday's night session.
The match lasted four hours, 12 minutes and finished after 1am on Wednesday, leaving some of the 15,000 or so spectators unable to use public transportation to get home.
"That's actually a key issue that needs to be settled, and that will be one of our priorities in the future," Mauresmo said. "We haven't planned anything yet, but obviously we need to organise ourselves differently with the Department of Transport of Paris with bus systems, with the underground system.
"If we continue with these night sessions in this direction, people need to leave the stadium late enough and make sure that they have a way to come back home, as they should."
Nadal, through the media, and his manager, Carlos Costa, directly with Mauresmo, made clear the owner of 21 Grand Slam titles preferred not to play at night, because of the way the cooler temperatures affect his shots. It dropped below 15 degrees during his quarter-final.
Asked about that, Mauresmo replied: "Rafa has shown us how big a champion he is, far and beyond all these considerations."
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