Gauff demands equality: Roland Garros must include women in the night

PARIS – Coco Gauff voiced her opinion on the French Open’s scheduling, noting that there is room for improvement and that women’s matches deserve a place in the night session. This statement comes amid controversy over the Roland Garros organizers’ preference for including men’s matches in this prime time slot.

The player Ons Jabeur had already strongly criticized the organizers for prioritizing men’s matches in the night session. Since the introduction of the night session in 2022, only two out of 34 matches have been women’s.

So far, every day of this Grand Slam event, a men’s singles match has been scheduled in the night session. In contrast, the first match on the Philippe-Chatrier court is usually played in front of a reduced audience, and the first four matches this year were women’s singles.

It’s sad that we keep seeing this. I stand firm in my words.
Ons Jabeur

Gauff agrees with Jabeur and adds that, if the organizers decided to schedule two matches in the evening, typically starting at 8:15 p.m. local time, it would be unfair for the women’s match to be the second one.

I don’t think a woman should play after the men at 8:15. I just think it’s unfair.
Coco Gauff

Gauff argues that if a single match were scheduled at 8:15 p.m., there would be an opportunity to include a woman. However, if two matches were scheduled, she does not believe that a women’s match should be played after a men’s match, considering that the matches could end very late.

Coco Gauff en el Abierto de Francia — Con los organizadores del Roland Garros aún sin presentar partidos individuales femeninos en la sesión nocturna durante el Abierto de Francia de este año, Coco Gauff dijo: “Producimos tenis de alta calidad y tenemos grandes estrellas en el lado femenino que, estoy segura, a los fanáticos les encantaría ver”.

Jabeur’s criticism arose after the president of the French Tennis Federation, Gilles Moretton, stated that “we need to put on the best match… for the spectators” in the evening.

Gauff responded that women’s matches can meet that requirement.

I feel like we produce high-quality tennis and have great stars on the women’s side that, I’m sure, fans would love to see. From my experience, playing at the US Open, a night match at 7 p.m., with Novak Djokovic after me, and he’s the greatest player of all time, people were almost as excited to watch me play as him.
Coco Gauff

Gauff concluded that she believes there is an opportunity to improve the situation in the future in this tournament.