Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka is currently ranked world no. 1 in women’s tennis — and yet her quarterfinals match at the Roland-Garros this week was scheduled in the morning, with large sections of the 15,000-seat Court Philippe-Chatrier stadium remaining empty.
The 27-year old has expressed a recurring complaint amongst top women’s tennis players — that of the gender inequality when it comes to match scheduling times.
“It was a big match and probably would make more sense to put us a little bit later just so more people could watch it,” Sabalenka said.
“I definitely think that would make more sense to kind of like move our match for a little bit later.”
Historically, men’s matches at major tournaments have been scheduled in evening or prime-time slots, with some tournament organisers citing that men’s matches offer more “value” for evening slots since they are best-of-five sets while women play best-of-three.
In 2022, French Open director Amélie Mauresmo was criticised for her comment that men’s matches were “more appealing” and therefore were justified to be scheduled during the evening slots.
“It’s the fair thing to do for the ticket-holders,” she said. “Because we have one match only, it’s really tougher to schedule a woman’s match because we have to take into consideration the length.”
She later apologised, vowing to find a better balance in future scheduling: “Next year…it would be good to maybe have the possibility to put two matches or maybe a women’s match plus a doubles match.”
That year, only one out of 10 French Open night sessions featured a women’s match. This year however, no women’s matches have been scheduled for the evening session. Sabalenka said this needed to be changed and that women players deserved “equal treatment.”
“There was a lot of … great battles, a lot of great matches which would be cool to see as night sessions,” Sabalenka said.
“Just more people in the stands watching these incredible battles. And just to show ourselves to more people. I definitely agree that we deserve to be put on a bigger stage. Like better timing, more people watching.”
Last week, Mauresmo was asked again about the scheduling fairness at major tournaments: “The funny thing is that it’s the same questions, year after year,” the former World No. 1 player said, adding that she has not yet been approached by any athletes about it so far.
Under her leadership, the tournament introduced night sessions in 2021, but only four women’s singles matches have been featured in that marquee time slot since.
Three time Grand Slam runner-up Ons Jabeur weighted in on the issue this week, describing the gender imbalanced scheduling as “a shame.”
“It’s still sad that we are still seeing this,” Jabeur said. “In Europe, in general, it’s unfortunate for women’s sports. … Not for tennis, but in general. … 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.”
“It’s a bit ironic,” the 30-year old Tunisian added. “They don’t show women’s sport, they don’t show women’s tennis, and then they (say), ‘Mostly, (fans) watch men.’ Of course they watch men more, because you show men more.”
Polish player Iga Swiatek also made comments about the scheduling division, saying that it should be more equitable.
“I think it should be equal, because the women’s matches can be an entertainment the same way,” she said. “We can put on a nice show.”
At the 2024 Australian Open, Sabalenka played her opening match on the cusp of midnight in front of a virtually empty stadium at Rod Laver Arena. As the defending first-time champion, her match had been scheduled after Novak Djokovic’s first match, which lasted just over four hours.
Tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg posted on X: “Amid the wild ride of Djokovic-Prizmic, sparing a thought for defending #AusOpen champion Aryna Sabalenka, who is going to walk out to an almost empty Rod Laver Arena some time around midnight. The best-of-three [women’s] match should always go first in a night session.”
Tennis commentator Catherine Whitaker from The Tennis Podcast said: “Imagine a world where women play the best of five and men play the best of three. Women would never be scheduled first, ever, because it wouldn’t be seen as acceptable to put a men’s best-of-three sets to start after a women’s best-of-five sets. It’s a slanted playing field as far as I’m concerned.”
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