The number is stark and unforgiving: 32. That is how many consecutive night sessions at Roland Garros have been handed to men’s matches, a streak that stretches back to the 2023 edition and has now been extended by all eight evening slots scheduled at this year’s French Open. Not a single women’s match has been deemed worthy of the marquee 8.15pm billing on Court Philippe-Chatrier, and the silence from tournament organisers on the question of why has grown louder with every passing day.
Iga Swiatek, the four-time champion in Paris and a player who has dominated the clay-court calendar for half a decade, has not been granted a night session. Neither has Coco Gauff, the 2024 Australian Open finalist and reigning Roland Garros runner-up. Aryna Sabalenka, the world number one, has played her matches under afternoon sunshine. Instead, the prime-time stage has been reserved for Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev — names that draw crowds, certainly, but not exclusively so.
A pattern entrenched since 2021
Night sessions were introduced at Roland Garros in 2021 as part of a broadcast deal with Amazon Prime, designed to give the tournament a single, headline match each evening once the day’s play had concluded. In the five editions since, only four women’s matches have ever featured in that slot. The most recent was Alize Cornet’s defeat of Jelena Ostapenko in 2022. Since then, 32 consecutive evening matches have been men’s contests.
Amelie Mauresmo, the tournament director and herself a two-time Grand Slam champion, has previously defended the scheduling by arguing that best-of-five-set men’s matches offer “more appeal” for a single-match evening session, while women’s best-of-three contests risk finishing too quickly to justify a standalone broadcast window. In 2022, Mauresmo went further, suggesting the women’s game had “less attraction” in the current era — comments she later walked back after widespread criticism from players including Swiatek, Ons Jabeur and Alize Cornet.
The justification has not aged well. This year’s first round alone has produced women’s matches lasting more than three hours, including Lois Boisson’s surprise victory over Elise Mertens and Olga Danilovic’s marathon win over Madison Keys. Several men’s night sessions, by contrast, have been straight-sets walkovers concluded inside two hours.
What the players are saying
Jessica Pegula, the world number five and a vocal presence in player council meetings, addressed the issue after her second-round win this week. “It’s hard to argue we don’t deserve to be out there when you look at the matches the women are producing,” she said. “Eight out of eight is not a coincidence. That’s a choice.”
Gauff, speaking on Wednesday, was more measured but no less pointed. “I love playing in the day, I have no problem with it. But it would be nice to see the best women in the world get the same platform as the men. That’s all we’re asking for.”
The criticism extends beyond the locker room. The WTA issued a statement last week describing the scheduling as “disappointing” and called on Grand Slam organisers to ensure “equitable visibility” across both tours. At the Australian Open in January, four of the 14 night sessions featured women’s matches. At the US Open last September, the showpiece evening slot on Arthur Ashe Stadium routinely alternated between the two tours.
What happens next
Roland Garros has five more night sessions remaining in this year’s draw, beginning with Friday’s third-round programme. With Swiatek, Gauff, Sabalenka and Madison Keys all still alive in the women’s draw, the tournament has both the opportunity and the obvious candidates to break the streak. Whether it does so will be a test of how seriously Mauresmo and her scheduling team have absorbed the criticism of the past three years.
- 32 consecutive night sessions allocated to men’s matches at Roland Garros
- Only 4 women’s matches in night sessions since the format was introduced in 2021
- Last women’s night match: Cornet v Ostapenko, 2022
- 5 night sessions remaining in the 2026 French Open draw
The questions facing French tennis are no longer about whether the scheduling is defensible. They are about whether the sport is prepared to act on what its own players, its governing bodies and its statistics are making impossible to ignore. Thirty-two and counting is not a statistic any Grand Slam should be comfortable owning.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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