By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Monday, June 10, 2024
Photo credit score: AP
Roland Garros pulled the plug on ladies’s night time periods this 12 months.
Night sightlines could not change dramatically subsequent 12 months both, stated Roland Garros match director Amélie Mauresmo.
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In her post-tournament presser, Mauresmo was requested why all Roland Garros night time periods featured males’s matches and no ladies’s matches.
Hall of Famer Mauresmo stated for the reason that match solely schedules one match at night time, the choice comes down to 2 major components:
1. Does the match characteristic a star participant who can fill Court Philippe Chatrier stadium?
2. Will the match be compelling and the way lengthy will it final?
“Well, we only have one match, and we have constraints given the time it takes to play a match,” Mauresmo informed the media in Paris. “I repeat what I said last year. First, we have the big names that we’re looking for. We’re looking for the best players to play at night in the evening.
“Then the time that the match will final, that is what we try to assure for the spectators within the night. But nothing’s engraved in stone. Things can change. It’s one single match that we play at night time, and subsequently we’ve got to make decisions. That’s why this 12 months we wished to have solely males enjoying at night time.”
You can understand why tournament organizers would not want a 68-minute blow-out that world No. 1 Iga Swiatek unleashed on Jasmine Paolini in the final as the sole night session match—particularly since Mauresmo banned booze sales within stadiums after Belgian David Goffin reported a fan spit at him.
Othe other hand, Swiatek’s spirited comeback from 2-5 down in the final set saving match point to edge Naomi Osaka in the second round was one of the most pulsating matches of the tournament and spanned two hours, 57 minutes.
Some gamers, together with Daniil Medvedev, prompt host broadcaster Amazon dictates, or least performs a serious function, in night-session scheduling choices.
Former Wimbledon winner Mauresmo shot down ideas that Amazon requested for a ladies’s night time match replying “No, no, no. Not at all.”
So what is the answer?
Mauresmo stated the match has thought of going to 2 night-session matches, because the US Open does at Arthur Ashe Stadium, nevertheless because of the notoriously tardy Parisian fan base, she suggests it may imply hundreds of empty seats initially, which creates one other problem.
“We asked ourselves the questions two years ago,” Mauresmo stated. “We thought maybe two matches is something to be considered, but given the culture we have in Paris, people don’t come at 7:00 p.m. on the stadium.
“Therefore, we’d produce other issues to face then if we had two matches.”
Asked how Roland Garros can prevent the debacle of a half-empty stadium for the Alexander Zverev v. Casper Ruud men’s semifinal which came on Friday after Carlos Alcaraz’s epic five-set win over Jannik Sinner, Mauresmo said solutions are being discussed.
“So immediately, effectively, I’m not going to provide the miracle answer,” Mauresmo said. “I’m not going to be sharing the concepts we have been eager about or I’ve been eager about. We have to debate this. We should debate. We should respect sports activities, but in addition the individuals who work for operations.
“And of course we’re not satisfied with what we saw on Friday for the second semi. It’s going to be one of the topics, not the only topic, but one of the many topics that we will be debriefing.”
Photo credit score: AP
Source: www.tennisnow.com
