The 2025 French Open has taken heat for not scheduling any women’s matches in the prime-time night slot. On Thursday, May 29, tournament director Amélie Mauresmo addressed the criticism and explained the reasoning behind the decision.
Players such as Ons Jabeur, Coco Gauff, and Iga Świątek have all spoken up on the issue.
Amélie Mauresmo Discusses French Open’s Lack of Women’s Night Matches
During a May 30 press conference, Mauresmo pointed to the French Tennis Federation’s contract with broadcasters as a key factor in the scheduling. She explained that the network ultimately chooses which match is shown during the night session.
“I’m not the only one signing the contract. It is the Federation actually signing the contract with the broadcast, which tells us that, actually, they put the choice of having one match in the evening. We decide to keep the three matches in the day, and when you put those three matches, the easy way would be to have the two matches in the evening, then we wouldn’t have this conversation,” Mauresmo said.
Mauresmo said the French Open wants to avoid late finishes and aims for a full stadium during the evening match, which typically starts after 8 p.m. local time. The later start time allows Parisians to attend after work, but it also limits the schedule to just one match at night.
“In my opinion, if we don’t want to finish too late, we cannot have the five matches. As I said, people here in Paris, they come out of work here at 7:30 [p.m.] or 8:00 [p.m.]. So to hope to try to have a full house in the evening is 8-8:30 [p.m.], beginning of the night sessions,” she continued.
Mauresmo added that earlier start times would likely mean a half-empty stadium, especially for the first match of the night.
“If we have two matches in the night sessions, it doesn’t work in terms of how late the players are going to finish. But if we start earlier, it’s going to work in terms of the stands are going to be empty in most of the first match. That’s what we think. So we keep this one match in the evening,” Mauresmo said.
“It’s not ideal, but we cannot check every box because we have many things to think about when we are doing these choices.”
Coco Gauff Chimes In on French Open’s Schedule
Following her second-round win over qualifier Tereza Valentová, Gauff addressed the scheduling in her post-match press conference.
The World No. 2 argued that the women’s game is packed with stars and high-quality matchups that deserve a place in the spotlight.
“I talked about this a few days ago, and I do think that women’s matches are worthy of a night spot,” Gauff said. “I feel like we produce some high-quality tennis, and we have some great stars on the women’s side that fans would love to see. So I definitely think there’s opportunity to improve that in the future with this tournament.”
Gauff is set to face Marie Bouzková in the third round. The winner will move on to play either No. 20 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova or Veronika Kudermetova in the fourth round.
