| Tennis often is lauded for featuring a level of gender equality rarely seen in other major sports. Top women players can earn just as much as their male counterparts in endorsements and brand deals, and Grand Slam events make it easy to be a fan of both the men’s and women’s games because the tournaments happen simultaneously. Since 2007, all four Grand Slams have offered equal prize money to men and women throughout their events, not just in the championship round. Thank Venus Williams for that. But equal prize money at Grand Slam events doesn’t mean men and women are treated equally. The controversy that has dominated the French Open this year concerned not pay, but its just as important cousin: scheduling. In 2021, the French Open introduced a night session that runs through the first 1½ weeks of the tournament. On Roland Garros’s main court, Philippe Chatrier, three back-to-back matches make up the day session before the crowds are changed over and the night session proceeds with a single featured match — usually what’s considered the most exciting match of the day. This coincides with a prime-time TV slot in Europe. In the 55 night session matches the French Open has staged in five years, four have been women’s matches. No women’s matches were scheduled at night this year, despite intriguing storylines such as Iga Swiatek playing for her fourth straight title and Lois Boisson’s dreamlike run that ended with a semifinal loss to Coco Gauff on Thursday. Boisson was ranked No. 361 at the start of the tournament, took down players ranked 24th, sixth and third, and she couldn’t get a prime-time slot. And she’s French! French Open executives including tournament director Amelie Mauresmo — a former world No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam title winner — has said the event doesn’t make scheduling decisions based on the potential quality of the match, but rather the length. If fans are paying to watch one match in person or TV networks are paying to air one featured match in prime time, Mauresmo wants to provide adequate bang for their buck (yuks for their Euros?), and women’s matches are best-of-three sets, whereas the men play best-of-five. It's difficult to take Mauresmo at her word here because of comments she made on the same topic when she first took over the French Open in 2022. “In this era that we are in right now, I don’t feel — and as a woman, former women’s player, I don’t feel bad or unfair saying that right now you have more attraction, more attractivity — Can you say that? Appeal? — for the men’s matches,” she said then. But even if one accepts that Mauresmo is just making a business decision, putting women on at night in just four of 55 matches remains an extreme discrepancy. As a viewer, I also don’t always appreciate having to sit through a four-hour match! Several women’s players spoke out this year about the scheduling, saying it robs women of the chance to showcase their talent in front of the biggest audiences possible. That has trickle-down effects on their earning potential and, as former Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur pointed out on social media, perpetuates a common cycle in women’s sports. Decision-makers don’t feature women prominently because they say no one wants to watch, but it’s hard to become a fan of a sport that’s never featured prominently. “No one’s denying the greatness in men’s tennis,” Jabeur wrote. “… But honoring one side of the sport shouldn’t mean ignoring the other. The women’s game has been writing its own legacy, loudly, brilliantly, and for far too long without recognition.” In many ways, tennis is an antiquated sport where any major change takes years of debate and the cooperation of several disparate governing bodies. That’s not what’s happening here. This one, for once, is an easy thing to amend. And since no one asked, my prediction for Saturday’s final between No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 2 Gauff is that Sabalenka will win her first non-hard court Grand Slam trophy. (She’s won in Australia twice and at the U.S. Open once). For Friday’s men’s semis, I think No. 1 Jannik Sinner will beat No. 6 Novak Djokovic and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz will defeat No. 8 Lorenzo Musetti to set up quite a juicy men’s final. I can’t wait to watch! | 
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