WTA calls for women to get fair
share of French Open prime time slots
Send a link to a friend
[June 08, 2024]
By Shrivathsa Sridhar
PARIS (Reuters) - The WTA has called for a balanced match schedule
at the French Open that gives women's players their fair share of
prime time billing after the Grand Slam featured men's matches in
all 11 evening session slots this year.
In France, Amazon's Prime Video has exclusive broadcasting rights
for the major's evening sessions, which run from the first round to
the quarter-finals, and only one women's match was chosen to be the
evening showpiece in both 2022 and 2023.
Tournament organisers missed an opportunity to highlight the
blockbuster second round clash featuring defending champion Iga
Swiatek and Naomi Osaka in the evening, with that three-setter
hailed as one of the matches of the tournament so far.
"The generation and depth of talent we are currently witnessing in
the sport is incredible," the governing body of women's tennis said
in a statement.
"Fans want to see the excitement and thrill of women's tennis on the
biggest stages and in the premium time slots.
"To continue building the value of our combined product, a balanced
match schedule that features both the best in men's and women's
tennis is critical."
French Open organisers did not immediately respond to a Reuters
request for comment.
Tournament director and twice Grand Slam champion Amelie Mauresmo
had said last year they could "do better" on evening scheduling and
Tunisian eighth seed Ons Jabeur was less than happy to play her
quarter-final in the morning this year.
"I would have loved a quarter-final at night, not at 11 a.m. For me,
it doesn't make sense... I don't know the broadcasts. I don't know
the TV, but yeah, you achieve a quarter-final, it's like 'no, you
play at 11'," Jabeur said.
"Honestly, I wish I can see the contract time between both Prime and
here to know what's the deal there. There were a lot of good women's
matches.
"Obviously not four hours, but who said it's healthy to play past 1
a.m. and who said the stadium was full for 1 a.m. or 2 a.m.? I don't
know who is watching the matches at that time.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/060824PIX/sports12.jpg)
Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - June 6, 2024
General view during the semi final match between Coco Gauff of the
U.S. and Poland's Iga Swiatek REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
![](../images/ads/current/graue_lda_4_2021.png)
"I would suggest to start earlier and then put nice
matches on both sides. It's not healthy also for players to play
past, I don't know, midnight."
Not all women's players prefer evening matches, however, with
Swiatek saying she was much more comfortable playing in warm weather
during the day.
"I like playing during the day, so it's comfortable for me that I
can be scheduled that way," she said.
"Probably there are many factors, a lot of requests... I understand
some decisions, like me and Naomi being in the day when Richard
Gasquet played during the night.
"It's obvious that a French player might have priority in terms of
night sessions."
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Paris; Editing by Toby Davis)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely
responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jun/08/images/ads/current/ldn_lda_BUSDIRCOVER_2024.png)
|