By Julien Pretot
PARIS (Reuters) – The French Open night session has come under fire again this year as almost exclusively men’s matches have been scheduled to take place under the lights and some players have complained about the late hours.
Since 2021, one match has been played on the main Court Philippe Chatrier in the evenings and broadcast exclusively by Amazon’s Prime Video in France.
Three out of the four Grand Slams — the Australian Open, the French Open and the U.S. Open — currently schedule night sessions with raucous fans ensuring a carnival atmosphere, especially if a local player is in action.
Wimbledon’s Centre Court had a retractable roof installed in 2009, allowing play to continue at the grasscourt major during rain and into the night up until a locally-imposed curfew of 11 p.m. BST.
In the first two years in Paris, only one women’s match got the honours of a night session. This year, one of the eight matches so far scheduled to start at 2030 local time has been a women’s game.
The start was brought forward to avoid play finishing too late but, on Saturday, Alexander Zverev played his last point against Frances Tiafoe after midnight.
“When we play five sets, it can go until two in the morning. That’s not so healthy for the player who wins the match and then has to play again the next day, like now,” said the German, who will take part in his third night session on Monday when he plays Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round.
“You need to get a massage, an ice bath, talk to the press, go back to the hotel and you don’t fall asleep before 4 or 5 a.m. It’s not good for your body.”
Zverev is advocating for more women’s matches to be scheduled for the late slot as, with their matches being played over the best of three sets instead of best of five for the men, they tend to play fewer hours.
“I think you can let the women play more in the night sessions because they play a maximum of three sets,” Zverev told a press conference that started shortly before 1:30 a.m.
MAURESMO DEFENDS SCHEDULING
Although world number one and defending champion Iga Swiatek defends gender equality, she admitted she did not like playing at night.
Her speedy wins so far have made her an unlikely candidate for the night spot as she has been spending barely an hour on court as she bulldozes her way towards a third title in four years at Roland Garros.
Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo, who last year said men’s matches had more appeal than women’s, stood her ground on Sunday.
“I’ve always said, from the outset, that it’s the quality of the line-up that decides the night session,” she told reporters.
“As far as the women’s matches are concerned, we’ve also made sure to showcase them in the middle of the afternoon on the main courts, starting the programme on Centre Court and the Lenglen with the men’s matches.”
Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur was upset after learning that tickets for Sunday’s French Open night session were resold when a women’s singles contest was scheduled for the first time this year.
Mauresmo said that all tickets had been resold.
Some, however, were still on sale on Sunday afternoon.
Belgian Elise Mertens had a message for the organisers, saying after her three-set defeat to Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova: “I believe there are good matches that can last two hours or more, like today I played almost three hours. So come on,” she said.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Clare Fallon)
