Mauresmo in firing line over scheduling row
Men’s game is better to watch, claims French Open director World No 1 Swiatek stretches winning streak to 33 matches
Amelie Mauresmo, the newlyappointed French Open tournament director, came under heavy fire yesterday for bemoaning the standard of women’s tennis and offering a flimsy defence of the late finishes in Paris.
In a car crash of a press conference, the immediate focus of discontent was the absurdly late finish of the classic Rafael Nadal-novak Djokovic quarter-final on Tuesday night, which enraged local broadcasters and left fans stranded without access to transport.
But former Wimbledon champion Mauresmo was also queried about the one-sided scheduling throughout this event, in which only one out of the 10 night-session matches was played by women. In response, she effectively threw the whole WTA Tour under the bus.
Mauresmo said: “In this era, I don’t feel bad or unfair saying that, right now, you have more attraction, in general, for the men’s matches.”
Her comments came just hours before Iga Swiatek, the women’s world No1, made it 33 consecutive victories, beating American 11th seed Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-2 to set up a semi-final with Russia’s Daria Kasatkina.
If the 21-year-old, the overwhelming favourite in Paris, goes on to lift the title on Saturday, she will equal Venus Williams’s record of 35 consecutive victories, the longest winning streak in women’s singles since the year 2000.
Asked for her reaction to Mauresmo’s take on scheduling and the appeal of women’s tennis, the Polish player replied: “It is a little bit disappointing and surprising because she was also in WTA. It’s their [the tournament’s] decision and we kind of have to accept that. But, yeah, I want my tennis to be entertainment as well.
“I think women’s tennis has a lot of advantages,” added Swiatek. “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. So it depends, you know, on personal views of some people.
Mauresmo has been parachuted into this job without a great deal of administrative experience, and lost a key ally when former French Tennis Federation chief executive Amelie Oudea-castera left on the eve of the tournament to become the national minister for sport.
Mauresmo has also had to cope with the nonsensical night-session concept, agreed in the autumn of 2020, which gives Amazon Prime rights to one match per day. The organisers have agreed on a start time of 8.45pm (7.45pm UK), but this became predictably problematic when Nadal and Djokovic set out on one of their four-hour epics.
Perhaps a quarter of the fans departed before the 1.15am conclusion of the match. Many others were left trying to desperately find a taxi, with one spectator tweeting that he had been asked to pay €95 (£81) for a two-kilometre ride.
“Obviously, it’s not simple,” said Mauresmo. “It’s the first year that I’m the tournament director. I’m learning a lot of things regarding the scheduling of the tournament. Having such late matches could actually trigger some questions. I’m wondering about it myself, to be honest.”
As to the specific transport problems, she said: “That’s actually a key issue that needs to be settled and that will be one of our priorities in the future. We haven’t planned anything yet, but obviously we need to organise ourselves differently with bus and underground system.
“If we continue with these night sessions, people need to leave the stadium late enough and make sure that they have a way to come back home. We do not have the means to organise this for 15,000 people yet. For the moment, there is nothing.”
Even by tennis’s chaotic standards, it had been an alarmingly shambolic evening at Roland Garros. The former world No1 doubles player Jamie Murray was just one of many insiders complaining that the
late finish – not to mention the chilly evening – had detracted from an alltime great contest.
As Murray tweeted: “Oh tennis stop doing it to yourself.”
The two players themselves were clear in their statements. Djokovic said: “I think they [night sessions] are starting too late”. Then Nadal chimed in by suggesting that “Television pays a lot of money to have matches that late [but] we need to find a balance”.