French Open star requests to see TV contract after heavy favouritism made over schedule
Ons Jabeur criticised French Open organisers for their scheduling again.
Ons Jabeur has asked to see a copy of the French Open’s TV contract with Prime Video after being left frustrated with the favouritism shown towards the men in the schedule.
Male players have been given 10 of the 10 night session matches so far this year - billed as the prime time slot. The world No. 9 had already called out organisers over the order of play on multiple occasions and asked why Iga Swiatek vs Naomi Osaka didn’t get top billing.
After crashing out of the tournament, Jabeur now wants to know what agreement is in place with Amazon, the official French broadcaster of the night matches.
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The skewed scheduling at Roland Garros has sparked a big debate over the last two weeks. While some aren’t happy with the women being shunned from the night slot, stars like Iga Swiatek have admitted that they’d rather play in the day anyway.
But Jabeur wasn’t happy with playing her quarter-final match at 11am as she renewed calls for the tournament to reevaluate their timings. “I would have loved a quarter-final at night, not at 11am,” the Tunisian said after losing to Coco Gauff in three sets.
“For me, doesn't make sense. Maybe this is the only Grand Slam and maybe Australian Open they play quarter-finals at 11am, which for me, I don't find it's... you know, I don't know the broadcasts. I don't know the TV, but yeah, you achieve a quarter-final. It’s like, No, you play at 11.”
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Turning her attention back to the prime time 8.15pm slot, Jabeur questioned the agreement that the tournament had with the broadcaster. She continued: “Anyways, I talked about the night matches. Honestly, I wish I can see the contract time between both Prime and here to know what's the deal there. You know, there was a lot of good woman's matches.”
There have already been some issues with the night time slot as Novak Djokovic’s clash with Lorenzo Musetti was delayed on Saturday when organisers put another match on before them. They broke the record for the tournament’s latest finish when Djokovic won at 3.06am.
And on Monday, after Djokovic finished his fourth round an hour into the night session, Alexander Zverev completed a five-set win at 1.40am. While the women’s best-of-three set matches don’t offer the same length, Jabeur claimed that the early hours finishes were detrimental to the fans and players.
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“Obviously not four hours, but who said it's healthy to play past 1am and who said the stadium was full for 1am or 2am?” she argued. “I don't know who is watching the matches at that time.
“Again, I would suggest to start earlier and then put nice matches on both sides. It's not healthy also for players to play past, I don't know, 11 or midnight.”
