Mauresmo: Men's tennis has 'more appeal' than women's I Swiatek disheartened

Amelie Mauresmo, who is in her first year as the French Open's first female tournament director, said on Wednesday that nine of the 10 night sessions at Roland Garros involved men's matches because women's tennis currently has less appeal.

Speaking at the traditional second-week news conference to recap the clay-court Grand Slam tournament, Mauresmo said she tried on a daily basis to find a women's pairing that had the star power or a matchup worthy of being highlighted in the separate session that began at 8.45pm local time in Court Philippe Chatrier.

"I admit it was tough," said Mauresmo, a 42-year-old from France who first topped the WTA rankings in 2004 and returned to that spot after winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2006.

Her last major tournament was the 2009 US Open. After retiring as a player, Mauresmo moved into coaching and worked with Andy Murray, Lucas Pouille and Marion Bartoli, among others, and was France's captain for the team competition now called the Billie Jean King Cup.

This year's French Open began on May 22 and will end on Sunday. The last of the 10 night sessions was scheduled for Wednesday, and the only women's match that got the prime-time treatment was France's Aliz Cornet's victory over Jelena Ostapenko in the second round.

Asked about that decision-making process, Mauresmo said in French that having just one match in each night session made it more difficult to have that be only a women's match. Night sessions at the US Open, for example, usually include one women's match and one men's match.

"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... appeal," Mauresmo said.