‘We want equal rights’ – Mats Wilander and Tim Henman discuss lack of women’s night matches at French Open

Mats Wilander and Tim Henman believe changes are required to the scheduling at Roland-Garros due to the lack of women’s matches during night sessions.

Only one of 10 night sessions featured a women’s match. Furthermore, 18 of the 20 matches scheduled first on Chatrier or Lenglen have been women’s matches.

“It’s two out of three sets, when are you going to have a one-hour night session? So, it’s not because it’s women and men, it’s because it’s two out of three and three out of five,” Wilander said on Eurosport.

“I think that they could start a little earlier, play a women’s match, for sure and then have a doubles afterwards so that the programme is a minimum of three hours, then it’s ok – but at this moment, putting a women’s match on at 9pm that could end in an hour, I think that’s too risky.

“Of course, we want equal rights, I understand where Amelie Mauresmo is coming from with the most popular, most looked-upon matches, most of the time that might be men – but for me that’s not true with Iga Swiatek back in Poland. It’s more about the length of matches, to be honest, at this particular place – so they have to change that in my eyes.

“For me, it should be a women’s match and then a mixed doubles match. Then you can have a women’s match, then a men’s match, then a women’s match [alternating each day].”

Henman believes that the stellar match-ups should be prioritised, regardless of whether they are from the men’s or women’s game. But added that variety is important for spectators to get their value for money.

“You need that balance, you need that equal opportunity but then you are thinking about the marquee match-ups which the fans and the television audiences want to watch,” he added.

“I am a big fan of night-time tennis, I think there’s a great atmosphere, I understand the revenues it generates for the tournaments but right now it doesn’t seem like it’s working perfectly.

“I think if you are going to have that women’s match, all the matches could start a little earlier and then you can have the combination of a women’s match with a doubles match just to give that ticket holder a little more value for money. Amelie is in her first year, it’s a very steep learning curve and I’m sure when we come back next year there will be some adjustments that are made.

“At the end of the day, from Amelie’s point of view, from the tournament point of view, you are never going to please everyone. There are all sorts of requests. It could have been said that Rafa wanted to play during the day, and Novak wanted to play at night – she’s in that position, she’s paid to make those decisions and she’s trying to make the best decision possible.

“She’s not trying to make a bad decision to annoy people. It should be given time, it’s a new scenario for Roland-Garros with the night matches and I am sure there can be improvements along the way.”

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