Iga Swiatek said she was surprised by the comments made by French Open tournament director Amelie Mauresmo over the reason why most of the night matches have involved men.
Mauresmo, who is a former world No.1 herself and Grand Slam champion, told reporters in Paris on Wednesday morning that she believes men’s matches are more appealing compared to the women. Her remarks comes after eight out of the nine night-time slots were filled with men’s matches. The only exception was the clash between Alize Cornet and Jelena Ostapenko. Amazon Prime France has a key influence on who plays during that time as they hold the exclusive broadcasting rights.
“In this era that we are in right now, and as a woman, a former woman’s player, I don’t feel bad or unfair saying you have more attraction, more attractivity — can you say that? Appeal? — for the men’s matches,” said Mauresmo, who is the first female tournament director in French Open history.
“My goal when I was doing the schedule every day was to try and see a match in the women’s draw can I put there.
“Honestly, it was tough. It was tough for more than one night to find the match of the day.”
The French Open night sessions were first introduced last year as part of the Amazon deal. Rafael Nadal’s four-set win over Novak Djokovic concluded at 1:15am. Just short of the all-time record set last year at 1:26am.
Another notable factor in this year’s Grand Slam has been that 18 out of 20 singles matches scheduled first on Court Philippe Chatrier and Court Suzanne Lenglen have been women’s ties.
Following her quarter-final win over Jessica Pegula on Wednesday afternoon, Swiatek became the first player top name to give her reaction to Mauresmo’s remarks. Branding them as disappointing but she admits she rather play earlier in the day. Both Nadal and Djokovic agreed in their press conferences on Wednesday morning that starting a best-of-five match at 9pm local time is too late.
“It is a little bit disappointing and surprising because she was also in the WTA,” Swiatek said of the French Open chief. “The thing is, 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 on every match.”
“I’m always focused the same way when I’m going out (on court). It doesn’t matter if it’s a day session or night session. But it (Mauresmo’s comments) is a little bit disappointing.”
“It’s always their decision and we kind of have to accept that. But I want my tennis to be entertaining as well and I always said that at my toughest moments I always remember that I also play for people.”
It is difficult to compare the exact appeal of men’s and women’s tennis among TV audiences due to various variables. For example the 2020 French Open saw the men’s final attract an average of 3.77M on France Télévisions compared to 1.8M for the women’s final. During that year Rafael Nadal won an historic 13th title and Swiatek won her first.
“I think it’s kind of a 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,” Swiatek continued. “Some may say that this 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.”
