French Open Rejects Amazon’s Night Session Request
ROLAND GARROS, PARIS — The French Open has faced criticism for denying Amazon Prime’s request to broadcast Loïs Boisson’s fourth-round match against Jessica Pegula during the primetime night session at Court Philippe-Chatrier, the main court at Roland Garros.
Amazon holds exclusive broadcasting rights for the evening sessions. Sources familiar with the talks between Amazon and the French Open informed The Athletic that the tournament opted not to schedule Boisson’s match against Pegula, played on June 2, for the 8:15 p.m. CEST slot. These sources requested anonymity to maintain confidentiality in sports media and tennis relationships.
Instead, the match was placed in the second daytime slot, resulting in sparse attendance during the early stages, despite Boisson’s victory that made her the first French woman to reach the quarterfinals in eight years.
Ongoing Debate Over Women’s Match Scheduling
The scheduling of women’s matches has been a contentious issue at the tournament. For the second consecutive year, no women’s matches were featured in the prime time slot, promoted as “one great match” on the tournament’s website. Moreover, women’s matches have consistently started play on Chatrier during times of low attendance.
Amélie Mauresmo, the Roland Garros tournament director, addressed the issue in a heated press conference on May 31. She attributed the lack of women’s matches in the night sessions to the five-set format of men’s matches, which she believes provides better entertainment for evening audiences. “It has never been that the girls are not worthy to play at night,” Mauresmo asserted, rejecting any claims to the contrary.
Player Backlash and FFT Responses
FFT president Gilles Moretton previously stated that scheduling choices are made based on what benefits the spectators. In the wake of Mauresmo’s comments, several prominent female players, including Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, voiced their frustrations regarding the scheduling disparities, which have resulted in only four women’s matches in 55 night sessions since their introduction in 2021.
Lindsay Davenport, former world No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion, added her criticism, suggesting that Mauresmo should be urged to give women more prominent scheduling. Davenport expressed disappointment over the scheduling of women’s matches in the morning and called for improvement in the future.
Marketing and Match Scheduling Insights
Patrick Mouratoglou, who previously coached Serena Williams and currently works with Naomi Osaka, defended the scheduling disparities, noting that daytime matches receive greater exposure through national television compared to night matches. All broadcasters with rights to the event can submit requests for match scheduling, but these are not always honored by the tournament.
In a scheduling twist, Boisson’s quarterfinal against Mirra Andreeva was set in the second slot preferred by TNT Sports, while Gauff and Keys played the first slot. The men’s quarterfinals were pushed to the third daytime slot due to the women’s semifinals occurring the following day.
Boisson’s Remarkable Journey
Boisson remains in contention, having defeated Andreeva to advance to the semifinals. Ranked No. 361, she is among the few players since 1980 to reach the semifinals in their first Grand Slam appearance and the first Frenchwoman to do so at the French Open since Marion Bartoli in 2011. She will face the American No. 2 seed, Gauff, on Thursday, but the scheduling of their match remains uncertain.
(Photo: Julian Finney / Getty Images)
