The world’s top women’s tennis player, Aryna Sabalenka, is the latest player to criticise the French Open for its scheduling of women’s matches.
Sabalenka
Sabalenka played her quarter-final against China’s Qinwen Zheng at 11am on Tuesday in a mostly empty stadium. After winning the match in straight sets, Sabalenka was asked about the scheduling of women’s matches at the tournament.
She said: "There was a lot of… great battles, a lot of great matches which would be cool to see as night sessions. Just more people in the stands watching these incredible battles. And just to show ourselves to more people. I definitely agree that we deserve to be put on a bigger stage. Like better timing, more people watching."
It follows comments from, former world number two Ons Jabeur earlier in the week. In a post to social media, Jabeur criticised attitudes towards women’s sports, saying: "Honouring one side of the sport shouldn't mean ignoring the other."
The French Open and night sessions
Night sessions have been a part of the French Open since 2021 and only ever feature one singles match. Since the introduction of night sessions at the tournament, only four women's singles matches have occupied the slot. At this year’s tournament, no women’s matches will be played under lights. The women’s singles final will be played at 2pm on Saturday.
When asked about the lopsided scheduling last week, French Open tournament director Amélie Mauresmo said: "The message has never been the girls are not worthy of playing at night. It's never been this."
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Mauresmo said that it wasn’t about the level of tennis but the time it takes because women’s matches are shorter (women play best of three sets while the men play best of five). She said: "Two sets can go really fast when you have three sets minimum.”
The number of sets women play has itself been the source of debate for years, with some professional tournaments experimenting with the format in the past.
Women’s semi-finals
In the first women’s semi-final, Sabalenka is set to play defending champion Iga Świątek who defeated 13th seed Elina Svitolina in straight sets in the quarter-finals.
The other semi-final will be played between the winners of tonight’s matches. At 7:00pm, Australian Open champion and seventh seed Madison Keys will play fellow American and second seed Coco Gauff. At 8:10pm, 18-year-old sixth seed Mirra Andreeva will play against French wildcard Lois Boisson.
Men’s semi-finals
The two men through to the first men’s semi-final are eighth seeded Italian Lorenzo Musetti and defending champion Carloz Alcaraz. Musetti will play in his second grand slam semi-final (the other was Wimbledon 2024) after beating American Frances Tiafoe in four sets. Meanwhile, Alcaraz dominated American Tommy Paul in straight sets. Musetti and Alcaraz are set to face off on Friday morning.
