
Amelie Mauresmo vows to find answer and address massive French Open problem
The French Open has showcased some thrilling action during this season's tournament at Roland Garros, but there has been a standout problem that tournament director Amelie Mauresmo needs to address: Empty seats
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 No.1 Aryna Sabalenka - beaten in Saturday's final by Coco Gauff - 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 terms 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 admitted 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.'
American Gauff was crowned the new Queen of Clay on Saturday afternoon after defeating Sabalenka in a thrilling final. She won 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 6-4.
The victory saw Gauff claim her second Grand Slam singles title and become the first American woman to lift the trophy since Serena Williams in 2015.

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I only ever want to add humour, some knowledge and some great atmosphere.' As he prepares to return to Wimbledon, and the scene of so many tangled memories, Kyrgios says: 'Life's too short for regrets. I think if you take one little block out, it all falls down. Every mistake I've made has given me the chance to learn and be the person I am today.' Nick Kyrgios will be at the New Wimbledon Theatre on 24 June as part of his Good Trouble with Nick Kyrgios global tour. Info at In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@ or jo@ In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at