"Olympic tennis has proven Roland Garros & Mauresmo are blatant sexists" - Fans react as Paris 2024 scheduling puts women's matches in prime-time slot

Women's night session tennis matches at the 2024 Paris Olympics delivering high-quality matches have sparked discussions among fans about Amelie Mauresmo and the scheduling of the French Open. The lack of women's matches in the night sessions became a controversy during the Paris Major and was a talking point not only among fans but players as well.

There were no women's matches scheduled during prime slots for the entirety of the French Open. Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo subsequently drew criticism for the scheduling. The 45-year-old claimed in response that night sessions wouldn't work in Paris as the people work late. These comments were criticized by fans online who found them disrespectful. Players like Ons Jabeur and Coco Gauff also questioned the scheduling at the Major.

The 2024 Paris Olympics has a two-match night schedule as opposed to only one at Roland Garros, including women's matches. The seemingly higher quality and engaging matches at the Olympics have sparked reactions from fans who criticized the scheduling of the French Open and Amelie Mauresmo.

One fan appreciated the matches put on by the women while also calling out the scheduling of the French Open. They wrote on X (formerly Twitter):

“Olympic tennis has proven that Roland Garros scheduling people and Mauresmo are both horrible at their job and blatant sexists. Night after night, women's matches have been incredible experiences. Meanwhile, their doing and words only gather all the misogyny from the world.”

Another fan claimed that people were showing up to the matches being held at 7:00 pm as opposed to Mauresmo's statement that people worked longer in Paris due to which the sessions were scheduled to start later.

“Also people have been showing up to 7pm matches contrary to Mauresmo's claims that people in Paris work longer so they can't start night session at 7pm.”

Here are a few other reactions from fans online:

“And not only night! Stands have been practically full with people from 1st rounds. Having fun, singing, no alcohol!” a fan opined.

“Olympic tennis rocks (Even watched a night session women’s match, didn’t know it was a thing at Roland-Garros),” a fan joked.

“The women and mixed doubles are delivering this week,” a fan commented.

However, some fans defended the scheduling at Roland Garros stating how the matches at the Major were best-of-five as opposed to the best-of-three format at the Paris Olympics. One fan wrote:

"Omfg. How hard is it to understand? Every match in the Olympics is Bo3. So regardless of women or men playing, it's going to be of similar duration, give or take 30 min here and there. RG features men's tennis with Bo5 format which is by design a longer match. Hence the schedule."

"The Olympics is Bo3, so they can schedule 2 matches after 19:00 easily. Now, you can argue that they could schedule 2 women's matches at the FO, but they apparently think that a night session ticket buyer expects at least 1 men's match," another fan said.

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"We deserve to be here" - Ons Jaebur criticized the tennis schedule at the French Open

Ons Jabeur (Image source: GETTY)

During the French Open earlier this year, Ons Jabeur claimed she didn't expect to see any women play in the evening and that playing a quarterfinal match at 11:00 am was a chore. She also stated that women deserved better scheduling.

“I have a lot to say on that topic. As you said, 10 night matches without any women playing. I don't expect any women to play in the evening, but frankly, playing a quarterfinal at 11 a.m. is really such a chore. We deserve to be here," Jabeur said.

The Tunisian also felt that Novak Djokovic's injury could have been a result of playing tennis late at night which might have affected his recovery. Djokovic and Lorenzo Mussetti's third-round five-setter went on till after 3:00 am at the Paris Major.