| Dates: 22 Might-5 June Venue: Roland Garros, Paris |
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High seed Iga Swiatek says it was “disappointing and shocking” to listen to French Open match director Amelie Mauresmo say ladies’s video games weren’t as interesting as males’s matches.
Mauresmo, a former world primary, has confronted criticism after solely one of many 10 evening classes at this 12 months’s occasion was a ladies’s match.
Poland’s Swiatek, 21, has performed all of her 5 matches within the daytime.
“I feel ladies’s tennis has loads of benefits,” stated the world primary.
The one evening session to function a ladies’s match was final Thursday, when France’s Alize Cornet beat Latvian thirteenth seed Jelena Ostapenko in three units.
Former Wimbledon and Australian Open champion Mauresmo, who’s in her first 12 months as match director on the clay-court Grand Slam occasion, stated it was “tougher” to place ladies’s matches on late.
The Frenchwoman stated there was “extra attraction and attraction” in males’s matches, including she discovered it tough to discover a “confrontation or star” to showcase within the ladies’s matches.
The WTA stated a balanced match schedule was “important” to serving to construct ladies’s tennis.
“It’s a little bit disappointing and shocking as a result of she was additionally within the WTA,” stated Swiatek, who meets Daria Kasatkina within the semi-finals on Thursday.
“From my standpoint, for each participant it is extra handy to play at a standard hour, however for positive I need to entertain and I additionally need to present my greatest tennis in each match.
“So I feel it is sort of the non-public opinion of each individual in the event that they like males’s tennis or ladies’s tennis extra, or in the event that they like them equally.
“And a few could say that it is unpredictable and women should not constant.
“However however it could even be one thing that’s actually interesting and it could actually entice extra folks. So it relies on the non-public views of some folks.”
The WTA stated the present era and depth of expertise in ladies’s tennis in the intervening time is “unimaginable”.
“Our followers need to see the joy and thrill of ladies’s tennis on the most important levels and in premium time slots,” it added.
“There’s definitely room for enchancment and if we need to construct the worth of our mixed product, then a balanced match schedule is important in offering that pathway.”
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