Tennis star Jabeur hits out at French Open organisers over scheduling choices

Paul Myers

4 June 2024 at 4:12 pm·2-min read

Ninth seed Ons Jabeur on Tuesday hit out at the scheduling at the French Open after organisers chose to place a clash from the men's singles draw for a 10th consecutive time in the night time session.

The 29-year-old Tunisian spoke out after her three-set defeat to the third seed Coco Gauff which was the first match on Court Philippe Chatrier at 11am.

"I would have loved a quarter-final at night, not at 11am," she said. "For me, doesn't make sense."

Early exchanges in the encounter took palace amid empty rows of seats. But the court filled up as the match progressed.

Jabeur, who was playing in her second successive quarter-final in Paris, saved her strongest criticism for the organisers' decision to place ties from the men's draw in the 8.15pm slot on Chatrier.

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The session was introduced in 2021 as part of a lucrative deal with the broadcaster Prime Video.

After comments that the sessions were not split 50/50 between the draws, organisers said the choice would depend on what was perceived to be the best game of the day and there would be no quotias.

"I wish I can see the contract time between both Prime and the organisers here to know what's the deal there," said Jabeur. "There were a lot of good women's matches."

On Saturday following a fifth consecutive day of showers, organisers blundered spectacularly and added the rain-interrupted third round match between 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov and the Dutch qualifier Zizou Bergs.

They then proceeded to produce a five-set thriller lasting until 3.08am on Sunday morning – a record finish for a match at the 133-year-old championships.

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