Amelie Mauresmo has responded after splitting opinion when claiming women’s tennis has less appeal than that of the men's game. Only one women’s match has been scheduled for the night session during the French Open which has drawn ire from those in the tennis world and the director of the Grand Slam then expressed her feelings on the matter.
"It was tough. In this era that we are in right now - and as a woman, a former woman's player, I don't feel bad or unfair saying that - you have more attraction, appeal (in) general, for the men's matches,'' the 2006 Wimbledon champion said. "My goal was, when I was doing the schedule every day, to try and see, from the first round, when the draw came out... what match in the woman's draw can I put there? Honestly."
Following the backlash, the Frenchwoman claimed her statement was taken out of context and has now issued an apology via Tennis Channel . "First of all the comments that I made were taken out of the wider picture, out of the context,” she began. "And I want to say sorry to the players that really felt bad about what I said.
“Again, I think the people who know me, who've known me on and off the court, throughout my career, throughout everything that I've done, know that I'm a big fighter for equal rights and women's tennis, women in general." The 42-year-old insisted the decision was made to host more men’s matches in the evening because women’s best-of-three matches are shorter than the best-of-five played by their counterparts.
She added: "Concerning the scheduling, specifically for the night matches, my say was that because we have one match only it's really tougher to schedule a woman's match. We have to take into consideration the length. I feel it's the fair kind of thing to do for the ticket holders.
"Next year, in order to be able to be more fair to the women players - to both categories actually - it would be good to maybe have the possibility to put on two matches, or maybe a women's match plus a doubles match, to try to find a better solution to be fair to everyone."
Iga Swiatek, who will compete in the women’s final on Saturday, was saddened by the initial comments of the former world number one, especially given she was once on the tour as a player. "Oh, it is a little bit disappointing and surprising because she was also in the WTA,” the Pole said.
"But from my point of view, for every player it's more convenient to play at normal hour, but for sure I want to entertain and I also want to show my best tennis in every match. So I think it's kind of the personal opinion of every person if they like men's tennis or women's tennis more, or if they like them equally. But I think women's tennis has a lot of advantages. And some may say that it's unpredictable and girls are not consistent.
"But on the other hand it may also be something that is really appealing and it may really attract more people. So it depends on the personal views of some people." The 21-year-old equalled Serena Williams’ tally of 34 consecutive match wins by dispatching Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-1 in the last four to advance to her second Roland Garros final, where she will face 18th seed Coco Gauff, who will contest her first Grand Slam final.
