"Depressing on so many levels and very disappointing from a woman leading one of the premier tournaments" - Tennis fans criticize French Open director Amelie Mauresmo for comments on women's tennis' lack of appeal
French Open director Amelie Mauresmo has come under fire for her comments on women's tennis' relative lack of appeal when compared to the men's game. During her press conference on Wednesday, the Frenchwoman was asked why the tournament prioritized ATP matches over WTA ones, since most of the prime-time night slots went to men's matches.
Mauresmo was of the opinion that it was simply because men's tennis was more attractive to viewers than women's. As much as the former World No. 1 found it difficult to do so, she made it clear that she had no option but to put the needs of the tournament above her personal feelings.
"In this era that we are in right now, I don't feel -- and as a woman, former woman's player, I don't feel bad or unfair saying that right now you have more attraction and appeal for the men's tennis matches," Amelie Mauresmo said.
Amelie Mauresmo further added that she did try her best to see if any of the clashes in the women's draw could have been put in the primetime slot but that she could not find anything suitable in the end.
"My goal was when I was doing the schedule every day to try and see, and from the first rounds, from the first round, when the draw came out, to try and see what match in the woman's draw can I put there, honestly. The confrontation or the star that I could put there," Mauresmo said. "That was tough. Honestly, I did really consider [that] most of the days."
Tennis fans on social media, however, did not take kindly to the 52-year-old's remarks, emphasizing that it was disappointing to hear such comments, especially from another woman in power.
Many pointed out that Mauresmo's comments were simply not true, since there were several women's matches that fully deserved to have their time in the spotlight over the men's encounters that ultimately took home the honor.
"This is depressing on so many levels and very disappointing from a woman leading one of the premier tournaments in tennis," one fan tweeted.
This is depressing on so many levels and very disappointing from a woman leading one of the premier tournaments in tennis. twitter.com/benrothenberg/…
There may be less WTA stars right now but isn’t Iga Swiatek one of them?? I don’t see why she couldn’t land a spot in the night session as the World No.1 twitter.com/benrothenberg/…
"In this era that we are in right now, I don't feel - as a former woman's player - bad or unfair saying that right now you have more attraction for the men's matches." - tournament director Amelie Mauresmo on the lopsided scheduling at Roland Garros.
Depressing state of affairs twitter.com/BenRothenberg/…
"The "women's tennis is not as popular as men's" argument to defend the awful treatment they get anywhere they play and the zero media coverage is ridiculous. Just with a "journalism 101" uni course you'll know that media has the power to tell people what they should be interested on," another user lamented.
"Man, I'm so pissed off. This is outrageous. She also justifies women playing at 11am on every court. And you can't tell me the matches the picked for night sessions were good. At least 5 days, just looking at the schedule a women's match was gonna be better," they added.
The "women's is not as popular as men's" argument to defend the awful treatment they get anywhere they play and the zero media coverage is ridiculous. Just with a "journalism 101" uni course you'll know that media has the power to tell people what they should be interested on twitter.com/BenRothenberg/…
I'll quote this again. Man, I'm so pissed off. This is outrageous. She also justifies women playing at 11am on every court. And you can't tell me the matches the picked for night sessions were good. At least 5 days, just looking at the schedule a women's match was gonna be better twitter.com/BenRothenberg/…
This is such a bad look for RG.
Tbh having a night session at all is problematic. Put a women's match on there & you run the risk of it getting over in an hour. But having only men's matches is unjust on WTA, plus fans might have to get home at 1 am (without public transport). twitter.com/BenRothenberg/…
Amelie Mauresmo’s Roland Garros Tournament Director timeline
1. Women rally to support Amelie for her 1st Roland Garros
2. Amelie trashes women’s tennis to roars of approval from sexist men
3. Women say “bye sis, you’re on your own”
4. Sexist men come for Amelie twitter.com/benrothenberg/…
"If you think Iga Swiatek breaking Venus' win streak is not as marketable/attractive as Ruud-Rune, you clearly don't deserve to run a tournament. People show up to watch history be made. You just have to make it available," one account wrote.
If you think Iga Swiatek breaking Venus' win streak is not as marketable/attractive as Ruud-Rune, you clearly don't deserve to run a tournament.
People show up to watch history be made. You just have to make it available. twitter.com/BenRothenberg/…
This is quite astonishing from Mauresmo. To sound so uninformed and unaware of her platform for women’s tennis and women’s sport is just unacceptable. The night sessions need to start earlier and have a second match, but this response from Amelie is such a disappointment. twitter.com/benrothenberg/…
Mauresmo being indoctrinated into the propaganda that men > women tennis is particularly concerning considering she literally reached the apex of women’s tennis. If even she feels like this, like it’s gonna be a long road to change people’s minds. twitter.com/benrothenberg/…
"Tournaments don’t market WTA and women players, don’t highlight them or give them good schedule. Tournaments also complains about how women tennis not appealing. When women's tennis has friends like you, it doesn’t need enemies," another fan posted.
Tournaments don’t market WTA and women players, don’t highlight them or give them good schedule.
Tournaments also complains about how women tennis not appealing.
Carlos played 2 night sessions, If Iga gets same treatment
When women tennis have friends like you, don’t need enemies twitter.com/benrothenberg/…
Start your morning with a little internalized misogyny: twitter.com/benrothenberg/…
That’s a lot of words to say “Amazon paid a lot of money and didn’t want a potential 60-90 minute match.” I mean it was reported they only wanted men’s matches multiple times months and months ago twitter.com/benrothenberg/…
Amelie Mauresmo promises to bring more balance to the scheduling of men's and women's tennis matches from next year onwards
During the press conference, Amelie Mauresmo was also probed on why almost all of the first slots on Court Philippe-Chatrier and Court Suzanne-Lenglen, which see the lowest viewership numbers on average, went to women's matches.
While Mauresmo remarked that she did not know the numbers were that heavily biased in favor of the men, she admitted that it was something she would keep an eye on from next year onwards.
"I didn't know the number. To be honest, it's day by day more than -- but it's a good point. Yes, in the future, that would probably, knowing that number now, which I didn't pay attention to, to be honest, during these 10 days, is something to take into consideration, for sure," Mauresmo said.