The sight of empty seats in the French Open's main stadium, particularly for the singles semi-finals, was disappointing, tournament director Amélie Mauresmo said Sunday. (More Tennis News)
바카라We're not satisfied,바카라 Mauresmo said, adding that she has 바카라a number of ideas바카라 to help avoid it in the future but did not want to share them yet.
Asked why she thinks people who have tickets are not always using them, Mauresmo replied: 바카라Who knows? I'm not in their heads.바카라
Added French Tennis Federation president Gilles Moretton: 바카라We can't force people to go to the stands.바카라
Mauresmo and Moretton said at the annual end-of-tournament news conference that more than 6,50,000 spectators came to Roland Garros over the past three weeks, including the qualifying rounds before main-draw action began on May 26.
Moretton said a review of the whole event will start in a couple of weeks. 바카라Not everything was perfect. We want to improve,바카라 he said.
A topic that arose last year, too, but did not see any change this time is the way scheduling is handled, particularly about the imbalance between women's and men's matches in the one-match night sessions, which have been used for the first 1 1/2 weeks of the singles brackets each of the past three years.
There were zero women's matches and 11 men's matches at night during European prime time this year. There was only one women's night match apiece in 2022 and 2023.
바카라The generation and depth of talent we are currently witnessing in the sport is incredible. Fans want to see the excitement and thrill of women's tennis on the biggest stages and in the premium time slots," the women's professional tennis tour, the WTA, said in a statement issued by a spokesperson.
"To continue building the value of our combined product, a balanced match schedule that features both the best in men's and women's tennis is critical.바카라
Mauresmo, a former No. 1-ranked player who won two Grand Slam singles titles, said someone from the WTA is among those 바카라in the room,바카라 when each day's program is determined, and 바카라I did not see any push also to have (a) women's match in the evening.바카라
Mauresmo said her biggest concern about having women's matches at night is that, in part, because they use a best-of-three-set format 바카라 as opposed to the best-of-five used for men's Grand Slam contests 바카라 they might be too short to be considered worth the price of admission.
She said she does not want to schedule two matches at night 바카라 one women's and one men's 바카라 because then, play will continue too late.
Moving up the start of the night session from its current 8:15 pm local time is not an option because fans wouldn't get there at, say 7 pm, 바카라given the culture we have in Paris,바카라 Mauresmo said.
French Tennis Federation Director General Stephane Morel added that the time required to clear the stadium after the day session ends, then allow those with tickets for the night session in, takes too long for an earlier start.
바카라Nothing's engraved in stone. Things can change,바카라 Mauresmo said. 바카라It's one single match that we play at night, and therefore we have to make choices. That's why this year we wanted to have only men playing at night.바카라
