As a player, Amelie Mauresmo was part of an era of highly competitive women's tennis. Photo: Getty Images/Robert Prange
Amelie Mauresmo, Tournament Director of Roland Garros, “would love” to change the women's final to sets to five wins.
Last year, Mauresmo became the first former Grand Slam champion, who took on the role of director at a major event, as well as the first woman to do so at the French Open.
Now with one edition under her belt, the former Wimbledon champion told Telegraph Sport she feels “more prepared, relaxed and knows exactly where I want the tournament to go.” – and that could include a drastic change in the format of the women's tournament.
While she says up to five sets won't work for the entire women's tournament, due to scheduling restrictions in place, she believes it could happen in the last stages.
“I've always thought, as a player, I'd like to play in a best-of-five Grand Slam final or like it was at the WTA Championship at the end of the year.” She said. "That's something I would love a lot and would definitely think about if it added anything to women's tennis"
Women are the best players these days. – from three sets in all major tournaments, while men play up to five. There was a brief period in the 1990s when women played the longer format in the final of the WTA Finals.
When asked about the possibility of introducing longer matches, starting with the quarter-finals at Roland Garros, Mauresmo said that in a few years this would need to be gradually transferred to the women's tournament.
" Maybe quarters, maybe semi-finished products. The thing is, you can't change it just like that. Because it requires different preparation from the players. It will go through a different process over the course of a few years, you might start with the final. Mauresmo, 43, came under fire in her debut as tournament director for scheduling men's matches for nine of the 10 night sessions at the main exhibition court in Paris. Embarrassingly,
she even had to apologize for saying that the men's matches were “more attractive”. in this era of tennis than women.
The buzz is unlikely to die down this year as the first three night matches scheduled at Philippe-Chattriers were men's matches, despite French and fifth seed Caroline Garcia playing her opening round on Monday. .
Mauresmo still sticks to his decisions and says he's happy with how things went last year.
"The first year wasn't easy, coming into the tournament I felt like I still had everything , in order to study. I knew it and that's what happened. A lot of my work is also in planning and I was very happy with last year and how I handled it because my past as a player made it completely natural for me to know how it should be. It was ok"
She previously expressed her surprise at the backlash she received, including world No. 1 Igi Swiatek, who said she was “disappointed”. according to the tournament director's comments.
Mauresmo's playing career, which has included winning two major titles, her landmark Roland Garros appointment and her coaching experience with Andy Murray, makes her a leading female figure in tennis, and she admitted there is “probably” more pressure on her. that she prioritize gender equality because she is a woman.
In 2006 Mauresmo became the first French player to win Wimbledon after Suzanne Lenglen in 1925. Photo: PA
But the extra scrutiny didn't sway her to guarantee a 50-for-50 men's and women's matchup for this year's reveal evening slot. “Because we are a unique example [among the four Grand Slams] of only one match scheduled tonight, it is quite difficult to know in advance,” she said. “Some people asked me before this edition, 'So you're going to have five men's matches and five women's matches?' I don't know. For me, the equality priority is definitely having two women and two men on each court every day.
"It's complicated. There is no perfect solution here. Because we have 15,000 people buying tickets for this match for 10 days, so I really think about what will be the best match on this day. At the moment I can't think otherwise about it. But other than that, I think we're perfectly equal in almost everything we do.” Our era was great for women's tennis.”
Mauresmo admits. that women's three-set matches put a lot of pressure on her to plan because it would almost certainly mean a shorter match for the fans than if she chose the men's match.< /p>
However, she is confident that the growing rivalry between the top three in the world – Iga Sviatek, Arina Sobolenko and Elena Rybakina – will turn attention to women's tennis. She compares the situation to the early 2000s, when Mauresmo, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters and Maria Sharapova were among the rulers.
Elena Rybakina is part of a three-woman rivalry that could help bring viewers back to the women's game in large numbers. Photo: Getty Images/Clive Mason
"I definitely think [our] was a great era" She said. “We were a group of eight or ten players who were really into the late rounds of tournaments, Grand Slams and all the time. I think it was good for the crowd at the time. We returned to the people almost every week. So I think it's good for people who followed tennis but didn't follow it as much.
"It didn't happen, but it's a fact that Women's Game Depth has improved a lot since then. those 15 or 20 years, so it's harder to stay consistent towards the end. Three players now – I think about Iga, Arina and Elena – actually show that this is happening, it is, they are reaching this sequence. Or already there for some. So I hope and definitely believe that they can actually do it. This is what works in the male part. Men or women, rivalry will work in any sport, it makes people more interested in the result."
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