Coco Gauff readdressed the controversy surrounding the scheduling of women’s matches at the French Open after Ons Jabeur made some strong remarks on the same issue.
The scheduling of women’s matches at this year’s clay-court Grand Slam has sparked considerable debate, with players such as Gauff, Jabeur, and Iga Świątek voicing their opinions. While some athletes have expressed frustration over the lack of evening slots for women’s matches, others have been more accepting or indifferent to the current arrangements.
Coco Gauff Once Again Spoke About French Open Women’s Scheduling Controversy After Ons Jabeur’s Remarks
Jabeur, who suffered a first-round defeat to 25th seed Magdalena Fręch at the 2025 French Open, articulated her concerns during a press conference. She criticized the tournament organizers for their “unfortunate” scheduling decisions, particularly regarding the absence of evening slots for women’s matches.
“It’s still sad that we are still seeing this. I keep standing by my words. 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,” Jabeur said.
Coco Gauff addressed the issue, asserting that women’s matches deserve the spotlight of evening sessions. However, she emphasized that these matches should not be scheduled immediately following men’s matches, which are played in a best-of-five format and can extend for several hours.
Gauff pointed out that the lengthy duration of men’s matches may deter fans from staying to watch a women’s match afterward.
“I talked about this a few days ago, and I do think that women’s matches are worthy of a night spot. And I think, to be honest, if there were gonna be two spots, I don’t think that a woman should play after the men at 8:15. I just think that’s unfair. Because you could go on at 11:00. And that’s if the match really goes fast,” Coco Gauff said.
The World No. 2 suggested that if the French Open organizers plan to schedule a men’s match around 8:15 PM, they could easily arrange for a women’s match to precede it.
“I think if they’re gonna put one match at 8:15, there for sure could be opportunity to put a woman there. I don’t think a woman’s match should be played after a men’s match. I don’t think people should be going on at 11:00 or 12:00 to be honest,” she continued.
Coco Gauff says she supports Ons Jabeur’s statement about the lack of women’s night sessions at Roland Garros, ‘From my experience at a U.S. Open night match at 7 pm, with Novak following me, & he’s the greatest player of all time, people were almost just as excited to see me… pic.twitter.com/NQsFsSvPfQ
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) May 29, 2025
Gauff also agreed with Jabeur’s sentiments, mentioning that women players consistently deliver high-quality matches and deserve the opportunity to compete in prime evening slots.
“I definitely do agree with Ons. When you feel, like, what’s best for the fans.. but I feel like we produce some high quality tennis and we have some great stars on the women’s sides that fans would love to see. So I definitely think there’s opportunity to improve that in the future with this tournament,” Coco Gauff added.
Coco Gauff To Face Marie Bouzková in 3R of 2025 French Open
Following her 6-2, 6-4 win over qualifier Tereza Valentová in the second round of the 2025 French Open, Coco Gauff is set to take on Marie Bouzková in the third round.
Coco on fire! 🔥 Gauff blazes past Valentova into round three ✅#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/xc7o0vWpJI
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 29, 2025
Bouzková began her campaign at the clay-court Major by defeating 30th seed Anna Kalinskaya in the first round, winning 6-4, 7-5. She then secured a 6-1, 6-4 win over Sonay Kartal in the second round to advance to the third round of the tournament for the second year in a row.
Gauff and Bouzková have previously met twice on the WTA Tour, with the Czech emerging victorious in both matches. Their most recent encounter was in the third round of the 2023 Italian Open, where Bouzkova triumphed 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.
The winner of the Gauff-Bouzkova match will face either 20th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova or Veronika Kudermetova in the fourth round of the French Open.
