Ninth seed Ons Jabeur on Tuesday hit out at the scheduling at the French Open after organisers chose to place a clash from the men's singles draw for a 10th consecutive time in the night time session.
The 29-year-old Tunisian spoke out after her three-set defeat to the third seed Coco Gauff which was the first match on Court Philippe Chatrier at 11am.
"I would have loved a quarter-final at night, not at 11am," she said. "For me, doesn't make sense."
Early exchanges in the encounter took palace amid empty rows of seats. But the court filled up as the match progressed.
Jabeur, who was playing in her second successive quarter-final in Paris, saved her strongest criticism for the organisers' decision to place ties from the men's draw in the 8.15pm slot on Chatrier.
Idea
The session was introduced in 2021 as part of a lucrative deal with the broadcaster Prime Video.
After comments that the sessions were not split 50/50 between the draws, organisers said the choice would depend on what was perceived to be the best game of the day and there would be no quotias.
"I wish I can see the contract time between both Prime and the organisers here to know what's the deal there," said Jabeur. "There were a lot of good women's matches."
On Saturday following a fifth consecutive day of showers, organisers blundered spectacularly and added the rain-interrupted third round match between 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov and the Dutch qualifier Zizou Bergs.
Dimitrov, who was leading by a set, needed four sets to advance and delayed the start of the night session between top seed Novak Djokovic and the 30th seed Lorenzo Musetti by just over two hours.
They then proceeded to produce a five-set thriller lasting until 3.08am on Sunday morning – a record finish for a match at the 133-year-old championships.
Gauff was among several players who spoke out on Sunday afternoon against matches starting so late.
"I definitely think it's not healthy," said the 20-year-old American after she had beaten Elisabetta Cociaretto. "It may be not fair for those who have to play late because it does ruin your schedule.
"I know it's tough because, especially here, it's only one night match, and people obviously paid for those tickets. It's a complicated thing but I definitely think for the health and safety of the players it would be in the sport's best interes to try to avoid those matches starting after a certain time."
Change
Djokovic was back on court on Monday at 4pm for his fourth round match against the 23rd seed Francisco Cerundolo. The two played for four hours and 38 minutes over five sets.
By the time fourth seed Alexander Zverev and 13th seed Holger Rune had finished their own five-set epic in Monday's night session, it was 1.40am on Tuesday morning – more than 45 minutes after the last trains in the capital's public transport system had left the stations near the Roland Garros Stadium on the western fringes of Paris.
"Who said it's healthy to play past 1am," said Jabeur on Tuesday. "And who said the stadium was full at 1am or 2am? I don't know who is watching the matches at that time.
"We deserve a better scheduling," Jabeur added. "We talked about this at the Australian. Open. We are still talking about this here in Paris.
"I don't think it's healthy to have these night matches. We have to find a way out so that everybody is happy.
"The ball kids are young and they're still on the courts when it's really late. I don't know if it's logical to have all that."
On Tuesday, Djokovic withdrew from the tournament after aggravating a knee injury during his match against Cerundolo.
The 37-year-old Serb had been seeking a fourth crown in Paris and a record 25th Grand Slam singles trophy.
His departure means that on 10 June, Jannik Sinner will become the first Italian to reach the number one spot since the rankings were computerized on 23 August 1973.
A new name will also be engraved onto the Coupe des Mousquetaires for the men's champion on 9 June.
