"There's no plan to fix it" - Reporter brutally slams French Open's controversial scheduling of women's matches ft. Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff

Days after comments from Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff, Australian sports journalist Catherine Murphy slammed the French Open director, Amelie Mauresmo, for the controversial scheduling decisions. Players like Ons Jabeur and Danielle Collins also criticized the event.

The French Open has come under fire from players and fans alike for controversial scheduling decisions. The night session on the main court, Court Philippe-Chatrier, features a men's singles match. Women have not played a single night session match in the past two editions.

Mauresmo has continued to justify the schedule by saying that the night match needed to be a best-of-five instead of three. Murphy, a reporter for ABC News, pointed out the anomaly in the scheduling. During a broadcast, a video of which was shared on Instagram, Murphy said:

"Not One women's match has been scheduled for Centre Court—that's Philippe Chatrier—in the primetime evening slot. And guess what? Not one women's match featured in primetime at last year's tournament either."

A clip of Mauresmo was then played on the broadcast, where she talked to journalists who raised questions about the same. According to Murphy, Mauresmo did not care about the questions and has no plans to fix the alleged issue.

"There is no fix for this. There is no plan. They're just saying we have one match at night. It's got to be best of five sets, so it can't be a women's match. There's no plan to fix it," Murphy said.

"The only thing worse than that was the absolute disdain shown for the questions in that press conference. The French Open is erasing women's tennis in primetime slots. That's what the French Open is doing. It's not just the tournament director, Amelie Mauresmo—it's the French Federation of Tennis," she added.

Murphy's comments came days after WTA stars had been quizzed about the scheduling. Coco Gauff acknowledged the limitations of the single 8:15 p.m. slot. She added that most players would prefer to play before rather than after a men’s match at 11:00 pm or midnight.

"I think it’s just tournament to tournament. This tournament, this seems to me what they want. But most tournaments do have the two matches, one starting at 7:00 and one afterwards. I can’t really complain. I think it’s just up to the tournament honestly," Gauff said.

Swiatek, meanwhile, kept a more neutral tone but still pointed to the gender disparity, noting:

"People try to look for things between men and women, and you can find that in the schedule a little bit, and you can ask us all the time, but honestly, my answers are not going to change, so I don't mind," Swiatek said.

Both stars highlighted the need for change at the French Open while acknowledging the complexities of primetime scheduling.

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Along with Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff, Danielle Collins and Ons Jabeur also commented on French Open's scheduling controversy

Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff at the Mutua Madrid Open - Source: Getty

Danielle Collins and Ons Jabeur have each spoken out strongly about the French Open’s ongoing failure to feature women’s matches in the night session on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

Collins pointed out the missed opportunity in not giving women’s tennis more primetime exposure at the French Open:

"We attract a lot of fans, a lot of crowd. We create a lot of discussion around the game overall, right? And, you know, I think there's certainly value there in having us on the night schedule as well. So, I think it's, yeah, probably a little out of the ordinary compared to some of the other events, right? I mean, that's all I can really say."

Ons Jabeur went even further, delivering a strong message against the neglect she saw in women's sports promotion in Europe:

"It’s still sad that we are still seeing this. I keep standing by my words. In Europe, in general, it’s unfortunate for women’s sports. Not just for tennis, but in general, whoever is making the decision… I don’t think they have daughters. I don’t think they wanna treat their daughters like this. It’s a bit ironic, you know.”

Their comments underline a deeper concern that the tournament is failing to invest in the visibility and growth of women’s tennis. This comes at a time when the sport is delivering some of its best stories and rivalries on the WTA Tour.