Lopside planning at Roland Garros remains depressing, writes Matthew Lambwell, the truth is that the Night session of the French Open is a poor concept to start with

Deja Vu, plus CA Change – choose your local sentence, but whatever way you cut it, the crooked planning of the French open remains depressing.

After seven days of the tournament, every prime-time night session competition has been a men’s centering. The first game on Philippe Chatrier – when it is always half empty because the locals are being lunch – has been a ladies’ snonbles every day.

Amelie Mauresmo did her usual press conference in the middle of the tournament and was again brought to the task. “The same questions year after another,” said the 45-year-old. “The same answers,” her interrogator answered. Rather.

“We have to take into account that the 15,000 spectators come in for the night session,” said Mauresmo.

‘Because men’s tennis is played on the best-of-five sets, at least three sets are played. It is complicated for us to do differently. ‘

In summary her position: If there is only one match in the night session, we will always go for a men’s competition because that guarantees the gamblers a minimum of three sets, rather than two.

Every prime-time night session match so far this year has been a gentlemen’s singles match

Gael Monfils depicted waving against fans after losing Jack Draper during Thursday’s late show

Why can’t you have two games, a men and a women? Because then the night session would end too late.

Why can’t you start before? Because people could not get there on time after leaving work, so that the stands would be empty for the first game.

It is not easy to argue with her reasoning, but that does not make the end result tasty.

The truth is that the Roland Garros Night session is in the beginning a poor concept. The contract with Amazon Prime Video – that one match a day for the most important domestic TV deal – should never have been signed.

It is a coupon – both for TV rights and the possibility to fleece fans by selling two separate tickets for a day of action. Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam that stays without a night session – and for that we can thank the curfew of Woodworth Council. But in Melbourne and New York they always have two evening matches – one gentlemen, one ladies.

If you can’t do that, they don’t have a night session – this event is good at it worked for 120 years without one. It is too damn cold in Paris in May to look at tennis at midnight, anyway – do you remember that all fans in 2022 stopped in blankets for Nadal V Djokovic?

The lack of empathy and consciousness of Mauresmo about this issue is amazing. How can a former WTA star not understand the importance of visibility and platforms for the women’s game – or recognize – the importance of visibility and platforms?

Domestennis in France goes to the dog-soad not in the top 70 in the world. How are Moursmo and Co going to change that when little girls come home from school, view their national tournament and are greeted by a female free zone?