Ons Jabeur takes furious French Open swipe over | Sports News

Ons Jabeur blasted the French Open scheduling, criticizing: “Whoever is making the decision, I don’t think they have daughters”. The Roland-Garros event launched evening classes in 2021, showcasing simply a single match on French Amazon Prime.

Last yr’s occasion featured no girls’s matches in any of the 11 evening classes and to date this sample has continued into this yr. Across each the 2022 and 2023 tournaments, just one girls’s match was televised.

After her straight-sets defeat by Polish No. 25 seed Magdalena Frech, with scores of 7-6 6-0, the two-time Wimbledon finalist did not shrink back from expressing her ideas on the promotion of girls’s sports activities.

Jabeur asserted: “It’s still sad that we are still seeing this. I keep standing by my words. In Europe, in general, it’s unfortunate for women’s sports in general. Not for tennis but for in general. I hope whoever is making the decision, I don’t think they have daughters, because I don’t think they want to treat their daughters like this.”

“You know, it’s a bit ironic. They don’t show women’s sport, they don’t show women’s tennis, and then they ask the question, Yeah, but mostly they watch men. Of course they watch men more because you show men more. Everything goes together.”

The allocation of evening session matches on the French Open has sparked controversy, with some arguing that feminine gamers are being unfairly excluded.

In a press convention on Monday, French Tennis Federation president Gilles Moretton defended the choice, stating, “Sometimes we have to think about what could be best for spectators. That’s why sometimes we have to make some choices. Sometimes we need to put, I mean, for the night session, we need to put the better match, we think, could be for the spectators.

“Maybe we could have a few, I’ve no thought, a few feminine matches on the evening classes. We’ll see. Depends on the schedule, who’s enjoying who, who would be the best match.”

Tournament organizers have also expressed concerns about the brevity of women’s best-of-three matches, suggesting that they may not be as suitable for prime-time broadcasting. Meanwhile, four-time champion Iga Swiatek prefers to play during the day and will face Emma Raducanu in the third match on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Wednesday.

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Coco Gauff added: “Yeah, I feel right here it is a distinctive matter simply because there is just one slot at 8:15. Yeah, to be sincere, in order for you, I do not assume any woman, I imply, show me flawed, however I do not assume anybody needs to play after the 8:15 match. I do not know what the opposite women assume, however I feel most people would fairly play earlier than that.

“Maybe there is a chance to put someone at 6:30 or 7:00. But yeah, I think if there is only going to be one match at 8:15, yeah, maybe there could be a woman’s match, but if they want to start the night session at 8:15, I’m sure most girls on tour would rather not play after a men’s match and have to go on at 11:00 or 12:00.

“I feel it is simply event to event. This event it looks as if that is what they need. Most tournaments do have the 2 matches, one beginning at 7:00 and one afterwards.”