Coco Gauff Backs Ons Jabeur’s Criticism of French Open Prioritizing Men’s Schedule

Coco Gauff says Women's matches deserve to be scheduled during the prime-time, but it should be held before the Men's matches.

Coco Gauff Backs Ons Jabeur’s Criticism of French Open Prioritizing Men’s Schedule

Ons Jabeur, Coco Gauff (Image via X/The Tennis Letter, Coco Gauff)

Ons Jabeur thinks the French Open always scheduling Men’s matches at night sessions and on Court Philippe-Chatrier is ‘sad’. She wants the organizers to give equal attention to Women’s matches, scheduling them during the night session to show more Women’s tennis.

Coco Gauff, however, prefers playing during the day session. And so is three-time defending champion Iga Swiatek. Gauff believes no women want to play late at night. For Swiatek, finishing her matches early gives her more time to rest and reset.

Mirra Andreeva prefers to play on Suzanne Lenglen instead of Chatrier. On the timing of matches, she believes has been playing during the day sessions because of her doubles matches. The 18-year-old also said more experiences on the tour would help her to understand the situation and come up with more insightful answers.

Last year, all 11 prime-time matches on Chatrier were Men’s matches. The last time a Women’s match was given that slot in the tournament was in 2023. Since the introduction of the night session in 2021, only four Women’s matches were held at night. Gauff, following her 6-2, 6-4 victory over Tereza Valentova, backed Jabeur’s opinion on the schedule fiasco when asked about it at the press conference. She said:

I talked about this a few days ago, and to be honest, I didn’t really have all the facts about the situation. I do think that women’s matches are worthy of a night spot.

While the Australian Open and the US Open feature two prime-time matches at night (both men’s and women’s), the French Open only features one. If the French Open starts featuring two-night matches, Gauff says the Women’s matches shouldn’t be held after the Men’s ones.

And I think, to be honest, if there were gonna be two spots, I don’t think that a woman should play after the men at 8:15. I just think that’s unfair. Because you could go on at 11:00. And that’s if the match really goes fast. I think there is an opportunity to put the match earlier at like 7:00…like most tournaments do the two-night slots.
Coco Gauff added

Amid this debate, when Novak Djokovic‘s third-round match against home favorite Corentin Moutet was scheduled on Suzanne Lenglen and the Madison Keys versus Katie Boulter second-round match was held on Chatrier, the latter stadium saw empty seats. According to French Tennis Federation president Gilles Moretton, the schedule is prepared by keeping only the spectators in mind.

Caroline Wozniacki makes her feelings known on Coco Gauff’s French Open draw

Coco Gauff was projected to meet reigning Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova in the fourth round but the Czech ace lost her second-round match to Veronika Kudermetova. In the quarterfinals, she could set up a clash with reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys, whose best performance at the French Open came in 2018 when she reached the semifinals.

Coco Gauff
Coco Gauff (Image via X/The Tennis Letter)

The 2023 US Open champion could lock horns with last year’s US Open runner-up Jessica Pegula or Mirra Andreeva in the semifinals. According to former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, Gauff has been handed a very easy draw. She told TNT Sports:

I think she has the easiest draw’ A lot of the seeded players on her side have fallen out already and a lot of the ones left are the ones who haven’t shown the best form going into this tournament.

In the final, Gauff could meet three-time defending champion Iga Swiatek, three-time Grand Slam champion Aryna Sabalenka, 2024 Paris Olympics gold medalist Qinwen Zheng, or last year’s French Open runner-up Jasmine Paolini. Gauff is a French Open singles finalist, reaching the last stage in 2022 which she lost to Swiatek.

Also read: Alex de Minaur Offers Insightful Solution to the ATP Tour to Protect Players From Burnout