French Open 2023 – ‘It’s ridiculous’ – Mats Wilander on lack of women’s night matches at Roland-Garros

Eurosport expert Mats Wilander has branded the decision not to stage any women’s matches in the night sessions of the French Open so far as “ridiculous”.

Four days into the competition, all late matches on Court Philippe-Chatrier have been reserved for the men, a decision that has sparked debate with World No.1 Iga Swiatek, Wilander and Tim Henman weighing in with opinion.

Wilander said: “I think that it’s ridiculous to not have ladies matches at night. I mean, it’s such an easy problem to solve. You throw in a French pair in mixed doubles where they play shorter matches, they don’t play three sets, they play a tie breaker at one set all.

“I mean, you’ve just got to give them another hour of entertainment in case Iga Swiatek plays.

“The people here would love to support a French mixed team in doubles on centre court. I don’t think that is the problem, I think there is another issue because the problem is very easily solved.”

“Obviously, it would be nice if we had women’s matches as well, but as I said, I’m not kind of helping that because I always request a day session,” the Polish star said.

“There are players who like the hype and the energy, and maybe playing during the night because also of the conditions. But for me it’s more comfortable to just have the normal day/night rhythm, and I kind of lost it after Madrid.

“So, in terms of regeneration, recovery, and just kind of being in a good rhythm and also keeping better mindset through the end of the tournament, I think it’s more healthy for me to play day sessions. But I’ll be also ready for night sessions. I already played many of them this year or last year.”

Henman said it was a challenge for the organisers looking ahead.

“I mean, the challenge for the tournament is if you’ve only got one match and you’ve got the option of a best-of-five set match or best-of-three sets, probably for the ticket holder, they’re thinking best-of-five sets.

“When you look at Swiatek matches, you know, she’s winning so quickly. You know, she wins in an hour then are the ticket holders going to get value for money?

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