"Depressing on so many levels and very disappointing from a woman leading one of the premier tournaments" - Tennis fans criticize French Open director Amelie Mauresmo for comments on women's tennis' lack of appeal

French Open director Amelie Mauresmo has come under fire for her comments on women's tennis' relative lack of appeal when compared to the men's game. During her press conference on Wednesday, the Frenchwoman was asked why the tournament prioritized ATP matches over WTA ones, since most of the prime-time night slots went to men's matches.

Mauresmo was of the opinion that it was simply because men's tennis was more attractive to viewers than women's. As much as the former World No. 1 found it difficult to do so, she made it clear that she had no option but to put the needs of the tournament above her personal feelings.

"In this era that we are in right now, I don't feel -- and as a woman, former woman's player, I don't feel bad or unfair saying that right now you have more attraction and appeal for the men's tennis matches," Amelie Mauresmo said.

Amelie Mauresmo further added that she did try her best to see if any of the clashes in the women's draw could have been put in the primetime slot but that she could not find anything suitable in the end.

"My goal was when I was doing the schedule every day to try and see, and from the first rounds, from the first round, when the draw came out, to try and see what match in the woman's draw can I put there, honestly. The confrontation or the star that I could put there," Mauresmo said. "That was tough. Honestly, I did really consider [that] most of the days."

Tennis fans on social media, however, did not take kindly to the 52-year-old's remarks, emphasizing that it was disappointing to hear such comments, especially from another woman in power.

Many pointed out that Mauresmo's comments were simply not true, since there were several women's matches that fully deserved to have their time in the spotlight over the men's encounters that ultimately took home the honor.

"This is depressing on so many levels and very disappointing from a woman leading one of the premier tournaments in tennis," one fan tweeted.

"The "women's tennis is not as popular as men's" argument to defend the awful treatment they get anywhere they play and the zero media coverage is ridiculous. Just with a "journalism 101" uni course you'll know that media has the power to tell people what they should be interested on," another user lamented.

"Man, I'm so pissed off. This is outrageous. She also justifies women playing at 11am on every court. And you can't tell me the matches the picked for night sessions were good. At least 5 days, just looking at the schedule a women's match was gonna be better," they added.

"If you think Iga Swiatek breaking Venus' win streak is not as marketable/attractive as Ruud-Rune, you clearly don't deserve to run a tournament. People show up to watch history be made. You just have to make it available," one account wrote.

"Tournaments don’t market WTA and women players, don’t highlight them or give them good schedule. Tournaments also complains about how women tennis not appealing. When women's tennis has friends like you, it doesn’t need enemies," another fan posted.

Amelie Mauresmo promises to bring more balance to the scheduling of men's and women's tennis matches from next year onwards

Amelie Mauresmo hopes to make scheduling changes to women's matches in the morning slot from next year

During the press conference, Amelie Mauresmo was also probed on why almost all of the first slots on Court Philippe-Chatrier and Court Suzanne-Lenglen, which see the lowest viewership numbers on average, went to women's matches.

While Mauresmo remarked that she did not know the numbers were that heavily biased in favor of the men, she admitted that it was something she would keep an eye on from next year onwards.

"I didn't know the number. To be honest, it's day by day more than -- but it's a good point. Yes, in the future, that would probably, knowing that number now, which I didn't pay attention to, to be honest, during these 10 days, is something to take into consideration, for sure," Mauresmo said.