Coco Gauff insists that women’s matches deserve to be given the night sessions at the French Open.
The world No 2 said she agreed with fellow WTA star Ons Jabeur, who reopened the debate earlier this week.
The 8.15pm prime-time TV slot at Roland Garros has once again exclusively featured only men’s matches so far, and last year not a single women’s match was chosen.
Jabeur spoke out after Gilles Moretton, the president of the French Tennis Federation, controversially said the schedule is dictated by what will be “better for spectators”.
Gauff, who beat Tereza Valentova 6-2, 6-4 on Thursday to reach the third round, said: “I do think that women’s matches are worthy of a night spot.
“I definitely do agree with Ons when, like, you feel what’s best for the fans, but I feel like we produce some high-quality tennis and we have some great stars on the women’s side who fans I’m sure would love to see.
“From my experience playing at the US Open, a night match at 7pm with Novak [Djokovic] following me – and he’s the greatest player of all time – people were almost just as excited to see me play as him. Same with other places I play, like Australia. I definitely think there is opportunity to improve that in the future with this tournament.”
Amelie Mauresmo, the tournament director, is expected to address the issue at a press conference on Friday morning.
Gauff headlined a fleet of 14 players from the United States to reach the second round of the women’s singles at this year’s French Open, the most since 14 also did so in 1987.
The 22 total Americans to make the second round – 14 women and eight men – was the most by the US contingent in more than three decades, since 24 made it in 1994.
Five of them have already punched their tickets to round three after Thursday wins, including third-seeded Jessica Pegula, seventh-seeded Madison Keys, 31st-seeded Sofia Kenin and Hailey Baptiste.
