Amelie Mauresmo says French Open organisers will address problem of empty seats

By Andy Sims, PA

French Open tournament director Amelie Mauresmo will address the problem of empty seats for early matches ahead of next year’s Roland Garros.

Women’s world number one Aryna Sabalenka and Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng played out one of the biggest match-ups of the tournament in the quarter-finals.

But with the match beginning at 11am, the vast Court Philippe-Chatrier was almost deserted, with many of the French spectators having lunch instead.

Mauresmo said: “We are aware of this, and we will definitely work on the solutions that we can find for the future.

“In two weeks we have our debrief all together and definitely talk about these subjects and see how we can make it work better.”

The lack of women’s matches in the prime-time night sessions remains a hot topic but Mauresmo once again stressed that is purely down to men’s best-of-five set matches being longer, ensuring value for money for ticket holders.

“I think we wouldn’t be having this conversation if we would have the same format for both games, because in my opinion it’s the length or the possible length of the match that is making it hard for us in of scheduling,” she added.”

The French Open remains the last of the four grand slams to still use line judges rather than electric line calling, which is currently considered not reliable on clay.

Former Wimbledon champion Mauresmo said the standard of line judging was good at the tournament, but itted the issue still remains up for discussion.

“Generally speaking, we had a very high level and this is a very great satisfaction for us, because, as you know, we are the last of the Mohicans to some extent with the line judges,” she said.

“We will be looking at it again this year, in what way would there not be line judges next year. I don’t really have the answer to that, but we will look at that question.”