French Open director Amelie Mauresmo defends decision to award prime-time slots to men's matches in 2023

French Open tournament director Amelie Mauresmo has defended her preference to award the prime-time slots to men’s singles matches at the 2023 edition.

The French Open, under the leadership of two-time Grand Slam champion Amelie Mauresmo, has been organizing night session matches since 2021. They have also been making concerted efforts to to promote the night-session contest as the headline match of the day.

Mauresmo, however, came under fire during last year’s edition for her controversial claim that men's matches had "more attraction and appeal" than women's matches. World No. 1 Iga Swiatek condemned Mauresmo's comments too, stating that they were “disappointing and surprising.”

Despite the backlash, Amelie Mauresmo has stood by that stance in the on-going edition as well. The former World No. 1 recently suggested that while the tournament would ideally like to give equal preference to both men’s and women’s matches, doing so wasn't easy.

“Some people asked me before this edition, ‘So, are you going to do five men’s matches and five women’s matches (during the night sessions)?’ I don’t know. For me the priority in equality is definitely to have two women and two men on each court every day,” Amelie Mauresmo said in an interview with Telegraph.

The French Open is yet to arrange a women’s night session match this year. Moreover, after Gael Monfils' withdrawal from his second-round encounter against Holger Rune on June 1, their prime-time slot was awarded to Alexander Zverev and Alex Molcan instead of WTA players such as World No. 1 Iga Swiatek and World No. 4 Elena Rybakina.

"We are a unique example of only one match scheduled in the evening, it makes it quite difficult to know in advance. It's a tough one. There is no perfect solution here," Mauresmo said in a statement not specific to the Monfils-Rune match.

“We have 15,000 people buying tickets for that match for 10 days so I’m really thinking about what would be the best match of the day. I cannot think at the moment differently on that. But other than that, I believe we are quite equal in pretty much everything that we do,” she added.

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"That's what's been working in the men's side" – French Open director Amelie Mauresmo on the consistency of Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina

French Open director Amelia Mauresmo also acknowledged the recent consistency of WTA players such as World No. 1 Iga Swiatek, World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka and World No. 4 Elena Rybakina.

“The three players now – I’m thinking about Iga, Aryna and Elena – are actually showing that it’s coming, it’s there, they are getting to that consistency. Or already there for some,” the French Open director said in the same interview.

Despite her current preference for men’s matches, Mauresmo stated that with the rise of the trio, the women’s tour would likely attract a bigger audience.

“I’m hopeful and definitely confident that they can really do it. That’s what’s been working in the men’s side. Men or women, it would work in any sport to have rivalries, it makes people more interested in the outcome,” she added.

The former player also claimed that a best-of five women’s Grand Slam final could be beneficial for generating more interest among the general viewers.

“What I’ve always thought, and this was also as a player, I would love to play a Grand Slam final best-of-five or how it was at the year-end WTA championships,” she said. “It’s definitely something that I would really think about, if that would add something to women’s tennis.”