French Open: WTA boss attacks 'unfair & inappropriate' order of play
- Published
Former Indian Wells tournament organiser Simon has been in charge of the WTA since 2015
2019 French Open semi-finals |
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Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 26 May-9 June Start: 10:00 BST |
Coverage: Live radio commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Sport website and app, with text commentary online. |
The French Open's decision to move the women's semis away from Roland Garros's showpiece court is "inappropriate and unfair", says WTA chief Steve Simon.
With no play possible on Wednesday and more rain forecast on Friday, British number one Johanna Konta's meeting with Marketa Vondrousova will instead begin at 10:00 BST on Court Simonne Mathieu.
Ashleigh Barty and Amanda Anisimova will meet on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
"They have earned the right to play on the biggest stage," said Simon.
French former world number one Amelie Mauresmo, who coached Britain's Andy Murray from 2014 to 2016, called the decision a "disgrace".
While the women's last-four matches, originally scheduled for Thursday, have been switched away from the 15,000-capacity main court to smaller stages, the men's semi-finals, which see Rafael Nadal play Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic take on Dominic Thiem, will both take place on Court Philippe Chatrier as planned.
"There is no doubt that scheduling has been challenged by weather conditions and the WTA understands the scheduling issues presented at Roland Garros," Simon continued.
"We are, however, extremely disappointed by the scheduling of both women's semi-finals on outside courts. This decision is unfair and inappropriate.
"We believe other solutions were possible which would have been to the benefit of fans as well as all players."
'Worst-case scenario' - men's final on Monday?
Tournament director Guy Forget said further delays could see Saturday's women's final moved back to Sunday, with the men's final switching to Monday.
"It's not what we hope, but if we have no other choice, then that's what we will do," he said.
"When we have uncertain weather, of course; it's very hard to predict scheduling.
"We have to always study the worst-case scenario, knowing that ideally we want to try to finish on Sunday."
The newly rebuilt Chatrier, with a capacity of 15,000, is Roland Garros' main court.
The 10,000-seater Lenglen is the second show court, with the 5,000-seater Mathieu, a semi-sunken court surrounded by four greenhouses, opened this year as the third.
'Wrong to relegate the women's matches'
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller at Roland Garros
I understand the need to play the matches early on Friday and that they have got themselves into a situation with selling the tickets for the men's semi-finals as two separate sessions.
But I still think it is wrong to relegate the women's matches away from the main courts. How does a young player like Marketa Vondrousova or Amanda Anisimova build a following if they are denied the chance to play on these big courts?
It always seems to be the women who suffer in these situations.
I suspect that there is some small print on the tickets as well that says that the organisers cannot guarantee any particular matches in the case of bad weather.
They could have used that disclaimer to create space for the women on Philippe Chatrier.
