Roland-Garros: "The evening match schedule may raise questions", recognizes Amélie Mauresmo

The meeting with the press for a mid-tournament report had been scheduled for Monday, May 30.

But, faced with the controversy surrounding the night session programming of the duel between Nadal and Djokovic on Amazon Prime, Amélie Mauresmo, the director of the Roland-Garros tournament, had canceled this meeting to fix it for this Wednesday morning.

At 10 a.m., she showed up smiling in one of the conference rooms located under the Philippe-Chatrier court.

The former champion did not evade any subject.

Is scheduling night sessions a real headache?

AMELIE MAURESMO.

Of course, it's not easy.

I am in my first year.

I learn a lot of things.

It is certain that the evening match schedule can indeed raise questions.

These are questions I ask myself too, to be honest.

We can also say that these are only ten games.

We will ask ourselves the question, when taking stock, see the things that worked well, the things that worked less well, the challenges, etc.

It will be on the table, yes.

We know that Roland-Garros will end later than when it was night that put an end to it all.

What's the point of scheduling games so late with the risk of them ending in an empty stadium and no one behind the TV?

Didn't you see the interest in the people who were in the stadium on Tuesday night?

I don't know what time the match ended?

1h15 or 1h30.

It was full.

Only a handful of people left.

The evening sessions, when you are in the stadium, for me, the interest is obvious.

It was full every night.

There was the match, I think, between Tsitsipas and Musetti where people left a little earlier, it was during the week too.

For all the other matches, there were people.

There is a real enthusiasm to be able to work during the day and have this kind of breath of fresh air at the end of the day, in the evening, sometimes late.

Finally, I thought Nadal-Djokovic was crazy, but maybe I'm not objective.

“We tried to make the best decision possible for the scheduling of the Nadal-Djokovic match, or the least bad.

We were in the gray more than in the white or the black, clearly.

We did what we could.

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Amelie Mauresmo

And for viewers?

I have less hindsight, but there are a certain number of people who tell me: “It's great, because I work.

Roland-Garros, I can usually watch on weekends.

After, during the week, I can't.

The matches, in the evening, are generally over.

I mean, I'm not defending these evening sessions at all costs.

But we are not yet at the time of the balance sheet.

In my opinion, there is a real interest, both on site and in front of the TV, for a large number of people to be able to follow tennis after work in fact.

These are the feedbacks that I have and that we have.

Isn't the solution to start day matches earlier?

The option that we could have and that we can think about is to start at noon.

Would 11 a.m. already make more sense?

For now, we'll wait to see how it goes today

for the last one.

We had a bit of a hot cross over the nine evening sessions, because finally, yesterday

, it was in the nails, we were on time.

There was only one night when we started late.

All of this will have to be arbitrated.

In any case, on this edition, it went rather well from this point of view.

Of the ten nocturnal posters, only one concerned a women's match...

It's not a regret given the confrontations we had and what we wanted to present to spectators who come for a unique match.

In the era we are in, and as a woman and a former player, I don't find it unfair to say that there is more appeal for men's matches.

My goal when I started day-to-day programming was to try and see what matches in the women's draw could be shown in the night session.

Honestly, I tried to lean into it almost every day.

Why did you schedule the match between Nadal and Djokovic in the evening?

It was difficult, everyone saw it coming, everyone knew it.

I feel like there was no good solution in this story.

For the other programs it was quite clear, there it was more vague.

There were a lot of discussions, exchanges, obviously full of pressure on this point since everyone was waiting to know the decision that was going to be taken.

We put everything in the balance.

Again, we learn.

We tried to make the best decision possible, or the least bad.

We were in the gray more than in the white or the black, clearly.

We did what we could.

“Above all, I don't want a deteriorated relationship with France Télévisions, and no one wants that, the federation doesn't want that, that's not the goal at all,” underlines Amélie Mauresmo, here on March 16.

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Have you discussed it with the players concerned, in particular Rafael Nadal who had shown his hostility to playing in the evening?

I am in contact with Carlos Costa (

).

I speak with everyone.

For once, it's the habit that I really took from the start, whether it's when it's positive or negative.

I think you have to assume things and then move on afterwards.

The champion that is Rafa goes well beyond all these considerations.

He showed it to all of us.

In an interview with Le Figaro, Delphine Ernotte, the president of France Télévisions, also denounces this programming and evokes a “very bad blow to our partnership”…

The agenda is simple, I had asked to see her on Tuesday morning.

We had an appointment in the afternoon, we saw each other.

However, in the meantime, there was his interview.

Once again, I have no problem going to see Delphine Ernotte to explain things.

I'm not used to going through the media.

We said the things we had to say.

Yes, there was dissatisfaction on the part of France Télévisions, and I understand it 100%.

And we talked.

Long.

I think there has been a better understanding on both sides, of the reasons why, how.

After three quarters of an hour, it was, I can even say, calmed down.

I won't say more because these are things that are settled face to face.

However, the choice still did not suit them and I understand that, but at least we were able to talk and, in a way, burst the abscess, so as not to leave the relationship with France Télé, which has been a partner for very long of the tournament, deteriorate.

Above all, I don't want that, and no one wants that, the federation doesn't want that, that's not the goal at all.

There remain six Russian players in contention.

If one wins the tournament, what do you have planned for the award ceremonies?

We continue on the same principle of neutrality.

This will remain the case for the ceremonies, there will be no flag, no anthem, etc.