ROLAND GARROS

June 9, 2024

Gilles Moretton

Amelie Mauresmo

Press Conference

(In French.)

GILLES MORETTON: Good morning, everyone. I'm happy to see you again for this Sunday of the finals of the men's draw here in Roland Garros.

Thank you for your presence. Thank you for everything you do to communicate about Roland Garros. Written press, broadcasters, radios, it's thanks to you that we have a renowned tournament throughout the world and in France. Thank you for being here.

It's the end of three weeks of tournament, a very intense tournament, with a lot of emotions. A lot of things have happened.

I would like to start, we'll talk about three weeks. It's a long tournament. I would like to thank all the teams here at Roland Garros who did the remarkable work where we're used to having a tournament over two weeks and now it's a full tournament over three weeks.

I would like to thank Amelie Mauresmo, our tournament director, and Stephane Morel, who is also present, managing director of the Federation. Thank you for the professionalism with which we are organizing this tournament, the commitment we have of all the teams on a daily basis.

A little bit of humorism. It's been a very free-flowing Roland Garros. We've met on a regular basis with the teams. Despite a lot of things, a lot of things happened during three weeks, so it was quite free-flowing. So I'd like to thank all the teams, of course our faithful partners of the tournament, but also, since we are on the ground which belongs to the City of Paris, thank the commitment of the City of Paris to tennis for an event like ours.

And also express our pride. We had questions a few years ago regarding Roland Garros in Porte d'Auteuil and elsewhere. We are very proud of being in Paris, on Paris land, to be able to live moments like we can for us but also for you and for the spectators that come to Roland Garros.

This tournament has been a success. Stephane and Amelie will give you figures and precise elements, but I would like to start talking about the third opening week, which was a success. Congratulate Amelie again. It was her initiative, and there are not so many tournaments like ours with the specificity.

And as a tennis federation, if I can express something, I would like to thank the players who offer the show without whom we wouldn't be anything, a show which is very intense, which explains the success of tennis, both for our event but also other events because of the quality of play, the quality of what is on display. So we'd like to pay tribute to the players. Talk about intensity. Every year it's more intense, and we have to mention that.

It's also the occasion for us as a Federation, this opening week, the quallies week. I'm not going to comment on what Amelie has implemented, but for us, the Federation, it's the opportunity to invite the family of tennis in France. We take the opportunity to invite club presidents, teachers, also volunteers who work on a daily basis and who support tennis in France. 7,000 clubs, these people can be rewarded and recognized, and it's important for volunteering. We have to underline that.

This third week also enabled us, it's the first mission of a Federation to make people want to play tennis. So it's a success, because the possibility for the opening week to see practice sessions during high-quality qually matches, it's for us a way to promote tennis.

Roland Garros 2024 enables the Federation to come to the end of a cycle of transformation that started in 2010, as you know. It's our DNA, our constant questioning. So we finished a cycle, so there's a new cycle that will start or that is starting to open in the pipelines.

We are at the end of this cycle, and we can say that the roof of Suzanne Lenglen this year was welcome to answer the issues related to weather challenges.

It also enabled to offer more people the possibility to watch tennis, more spectators -- although there was a day of total suffering -- but also to enable broadcasters and all tennis fans throughout the world to follow the tournament almost as if the weather had been fine, although we suffered.

It's also the end of the Tenniseum works that you probably have discovered with an auditorium, a museum. There are still things to be done and improved, but we can say that this major cycle is coming to an end in 2024.

I was also saying that questioning is part of our DNA. So we also want to move the lines with very high respect for tradition and also move towards modernity. It's our alignment. We are all aligned on this motto and philosophy.

It's also the French tennis Walk of Fame that we have inaugurated to pay tribute to the 125 players who marked the French tennis history since 1891. I hope that you have been able to visit this Walk of Fame.

We will draw the teachings, because not everything was perfect. We want to improve. Very soon we will have a debrief with you, Amelie, with great pleasure. All the teams will come together very soon, within two weeks, to question our practices, to listen to what we have heard from during the tournament to see the transformations and improvements we can make to the tournament. So very soon.

And we also have points which we have to improve. But during this debrief, we'll have soon a meeting for that.

Then we have Paris 2024 Olympic Games in our objective. Our teams are already mobilized on Paris Games, very soon with a great sense of enthusiasm and pride that we are going to work for the Paris 2024 teams. Our teams have been mobilized, the internal organization is ready to welcome tennis, para tennis, and also boxing here in Roland Garros.

We are also very happy, talking about disabled tennis and the improvement that Amelie has made for wheelchair tennis. Three points: The draw, which has been extended; better visibility given through the courts and matches; and finally, the juniors draw, we added juniors draw and the appearance, I hope for French tennis, of a young champion Ksenia Chasteau, who had won in the juniors US Open and who won here also.

So these are points of satisfaction, but we are still aware of the improvements we have to make. I think that the 2024 edition has been a beautiful edition for the French Tennis Federation, which is positively evolving, because we should reach 1,150,000 cardholders by end of August of this year. It's a satisfaction for our clubs and for the promotion of tennis.

I now give the floor to Amelie.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Thank you, Gilles. Hello, everyone. Thank you very much for being with us. Now we will draw the lessons of these three weeks that have elapsed here at Roland Garros. I'm not going to be too long, because I suppose you have questions to ask.

But the thing is, just like Gilles, I'd like to thank the teams. Frankly, there were many challenges for the teams this year during the three weeks, given the weather conditions that were quite complicated. The teams had very long working hours. You're very much aware of this in your daily jobs. But the teams were there, even though we were very busy and we'll still be busy this summer.

Now, then, what I have liked in a chronological order is the opening week. 75,000 people were there to watch tennis matches. I suppose we have new people, people with a passion, people who usually come for the quallies, but also others who wanted to discover Roland Garros in a different way. Younger people, as well, because the conditions are really good for younger generations. We want to have more of the youth, people who want to watch tennis matches and to play tennis, an objective that was met.

As you were saying, this week will continue and change. Then the Suzanne Lenglen start was incredible. During the opening week, we had people and spectators who did better than what we expected.

I don't know if we have seen that, that is qually matches with 10,000 people coming, which is what happened on the Lenglen court during this week.

So I think there is this appetite. There is this atmosphere about tennis. Apart from the opening week, that's what I saw. And this, frankly, is what I preferred probably is people's appetite. They had a thirst for tennis, to watch tennis. We saw them during the opening week. They were queueing for hours, sometimes full days before we could have some sunshine.

On all the courts, the big ones, the smaller ones, there's a desire for emotions. Today Roland Garros brings this emotion to the spectators. This was our objective. We wanted to have the crowd here who would experience an incredible day with smiles on their faces from ear to ear, and we will welcome them again in the best conditions.

Of course I'll be talking about the roof on the Lenglen court, because this year, that's true, it was very useful. The right year indeed to use the roof.

As you've probably noticed, the weather conditions were really difficult during the first week in the main draw. We had many constraints to deal with. The good thing is that we managed to fare the first week despite these events. Then the tournament continued in normal conditions, the classic conditions, which is what we usually do each year.

Without the two roofs, without the lights on the stadium, it wasn't the case several years ago, it would have been more than complicated.

What else? Well, this year we launched a project that was very important for us, which was mobile tickets for the general public. That was a major hit. There was pressure, and we had 670,000 people on the stadium during the three weeks, and nobody talked about this, which is good news. That is, everything is functioning correctly, and everything was well-oiled. Thank you for the teams that prepared everything ahead of time. That was remarkable.

And of course there are things we can still improve. We saw that on Friday, for instance, with the semis for men. There are things to improve. Of course we are challenging our practices. Of course we are never satisfied. As you said, Gilles, we will continue and brainstorm on that.

We have ideas. We had ideas. But we'll try and do more. In a fortnight, we will be given an opportunity, because together we will discuss this, we'll talk about sports fairness, and we'll talk about operational constraints.

We will find the best ways and means to make sure that more and more people are satisfied. We're very much aware of all this.

To finish, let's talk about sports. This is my DNA. It will always be my DNA. I will talk about Iga yesterday. She was impressive. Not just yesterday, by the way. She was impressive through and through during the whole tournament, even though it could have ended earlier than planned during the first week.

She dominates the court. She's the queen here and also the queen on clay. Four titles in five editions. Hats off to her. She has good control, control of the game, mental control also. She manages her own expectations and the expectations that people place on her. So congratulations to her massively for her performance.

And today we'll have a new winner here at Roland Garros. We are waiting for this match. Everybody is waiting for the match impatiently. This is, in a nutshell, what I wanted to tell as a preamble.

Now the time has come for the Q&A.

Q. Well, let's get to the nitty-gritty without wasting time. We're not going to waste time. Why didn't we have women's night matches?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Well, we only have one match, and we have constraints given the time it takes to play a match. I repeat what I said last year. First, we have the big names that we're looking for. We're looking for the best players to play at night in the evening.

Then the time that the match will last, that's what we try and guarantee for the spectators in the evening. But nothing's engraved in stone. Things can change. It's one single match that we play at night, and therefore we have to make choices. That's why this year we wanted to have only men playing at night.

We asked ourselves the questions two years ago. We thought maybe two matches is something to be considered, but given the culture we have in Paris, people don't come at 7:00 p.m. on the stadium. Therefore, we would have other problems to face then if we had two matches.

Q. Okay. But after the Nadal/Zverev match, was there pressure on you from Prime so that no woman would play at night?

AMELIE MAURESMO: No, no, no, not at all.

Q. Amelie, I think you talked about the semis earlier on. How can we make sure that we avoid what happened during the beginning of the second semis for men? The stadium was almost half empty.

AMELIE MAURESMO: I have a number of ideas to overcome this. How can I say? More advanced ideas to avoid these types of situations. But here again, we have constraints, operational constraints.

So today, well, I'm not going to give you the miracle solution. I'm not going to be sharing the ideas we've been thinking about or I've been thinking about. We have to discuss this. We have to debate. We have to respect sports, but also the people who work for operations.

And of course we're not satisfied with what we saw on Friday for the second semi. It's going to be one of the topics, not the only topic, but one of the many topics that we will be debriefing.

GILLES MORETTON: Maybe you should specify something. I totally share the opinion of all the tennis fans who are disappointed. We sold 650,000 tickets, people are there, are present, they invite customers, people have spent four-and-a-half hours on the court. It's not satisfactory. But we can't force people to come back to the stands afterwards.

So maybe there are other solutions, and that's where the thinking process can be implemented with respect to this issue. But we share your opinion, we cannot accept to see stands that are empty like we saw on the second semifinals.

We had more or less the same for the second semifinal last year, and we need to think about that and find solutions.

Q. Beyond solutions that you're not going to unveil, regarding the assessment, why do people purchase tickets and don't come to the stands? I set aside the problem of the boxes, it's the business customers who have lunch, et cetera. We have the impression for all other types of seats there is this behavior, I buy a ticket for the day and not come to see three sets and that's it. Do you have qually surveys? Do you talk to people? Is it a new behavior? Why is it so strong this year?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Is it on the Friday for the semis?

Q. I'm talking generally speaking. Not many people in the stands, and we have seen many images on TV. People come to me ten times a day, okay, and people say, if you can tell me how I can buy a ticket now, I'll do this, because we see people are not coming, we see that on TV.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Now, telling you why, who knows? I'm not in their heads. I don't know about those who buy their tickets for Roland Garros.

But what we've seen over the years is that if people buy a ticket for the day to come here at Roland Garros, they're not going to stay seated for five, six, seven, eight hours or more. It's less the case now than before, or no longer the case, compared to what happened in the past. Even though this was a problem, as well, in the past.

So we've tried to find solutions to overcome this so that others could come and enjoy the show when the other ticket holders would do something else, or would watch other matches on annex courts.

And then there is the life on the stadium. There are many other events. It's not just about the matches that drag a lot of people for that, adults and the families, they can drink something, eat something. So of course this is a challenge which is not easy. It's not easy to find the right solution.

GILLES MORETTON: To try to elaborate on this, we have an audience which knows tennis very well. Sometimes all matches are not fabulous, and they don't hesitate after one hour and a half to say, okay, I'm going to Court 14 or another court to see another match because there's a young player.

We have a public of knowledgeable people. We know that because we have a lot of tennis cardholders who come, and we have a quota which is reserved for tennis players. It was not the case three or four years ago where the quota was not purchased fully by the FFT members, and here it's 100% purchased and very fast. There's an interest for tennis in general but also for our tennis cardholders.

What we do, thanks to the opening week of Roland Garros, we make people want to come and watch tennis. The stadium, the heritage of this beautiful stadium makes people want to come out of curiosity. For example, there was a padel event we organized and we questioned people who come. Some people came to watch the stadium, they have heard about padel, they were not fans of padel, but they took the opportunity to come and visit the Roland Garros stadium.

People walk and wander around. Some who are specialists about tennis, they have their seat, but they also go to see a younger player. So we have a very demanding audience who is capable of moving.

I'm not talking about the people in the boxes who come, and we can't force companies who have invited someone to stay eight hours in the stands.

The average time of people coming to Roland Garros stay 8 hours and 30 within the stadium. They cannot stay 8 1/2 hours on their seat. It's maybe the case in other stadiums, but here we have an audience which is curious, the stadium is beautiful, they go to wander on Simonne Mathieu, et cetera.

AMELIE MAURESMO: I'd like to add something to this. One of the solutions we've been thinking about two years ago, it was the billet up, tickets up. And our hope is that, well, we thought, when the seats are empty, when people could come, we had this to offer them.

Unfortunately, we've seen that some people did a number of things that are not civil behaviors. For instance, those who couldn't go on the Chatrier, they wouldn't want to leave any longer when the other person was coming back to their seats. This is how it is. You try and organize things, but also you count on people's common sense and respecting the rules, what I call civil behavior.

Well, this is not good, because you make a promise, you say your seat will be available and then the person doesn't want to give them their own seats.

That's what we have to look at. I know it's our job. It's not your job. I know. But then if you want to do things and organize things, it's not as simple as it looks, that people respect the rules and it's done correctly.

So I agree, during the matches if you say, well, could you please leave and give your seat to somebody else, it's not that easy.

Q. Back to the visits on the stadium. At the beginning of the tournament you inaugurated the Tenniseum. I'd like to know when everything is fully ready, when the museum is launched, at which date?

GILLES MORETTON: It will be relaunched very soon. We wanted to open and we also asked ourselves, do we have to do a draw in the Tenniseum, but the Orangerie where we do the draw is a magical place too. We have a lot of magical places. Inside there are a certain number of animations that will be implemented that will be ready for Roland Garros 2025, so very soon, and also for visits of the stadium.

Maybe Stephane, you want to answer?

STEPHANE MOREL: For those who visited the area, there was a store to the right. This store will disappear after this tournament. It will be replaced with a museum space, with temporary exhibitions that will come one after the other. And that will start from next month for all year-round visitors. So this store was temporary, and then everything will be open to the visitors of the stadium.

Q. (Question off microphone.)

STEPHANE MOREL: The problem is we have Olympic Games coming up, but after the Paris Olympic Games and Paralympic Games we will open this area for exhibitions.

Q. Could you specify regarding the empty seats? When we have a ticket for the Chatrier, we agree you can go to visit every single court?

AMELIE MAURESMO: No, not the Lenglen.

Q. Not the Lenglen, but also the annex courts.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Yes.

Q. And Suzanne Lenglen?

AMELIE MAURESMO: In the high part of the stands.

(Multiple speakers in discussion.)

GILLES MORETTON: Well, the constraints are not the same in other Grand Slams. On the US Open, Australian Open, you can go anywhere. If you have a seat on the center court and you are not interested in the match and there's an interesting match on the annex courts, you can go. There's no specific ticketing. Except us for Simonne Mathieu there's a specific part and one open to the general public.

AMELIE MAURESMO: I'd like to pick on what you've said. You've said for the other tournaments it's crammed. I don't agree with you. I'll send you photos.

Now let's focus on our good faith, everybody's good faith.

Q. Listening to you, I don't agree with him.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Thank you.

Q. Now, there's one thing that bothers everybody here, which is when we start the semis here, we don't have a full audience in the stadium. You have to be tougher with the boxes, those who have the boxes. Remember, it was the case for Nadal/Federer. These were big names but it was not crammed with people.

AMELIE MAURESMO: It's usually the case...

Q. It's unbearable, unbearable. For your image, it's really negative.

AMELIE MAURESMO: It's not just the boxes. And by the way, by the way, maybe -- well, by the way, I'm not in the heads of those who buy these tickets. Nor am I in the heads of the ticket holders.

But on the stadium, if we set the boxes aside, we only have 10% of all the people who bought these tickets, both for the first and the second semis. That's what's interesting, which means that there's a moment when we know that as far as this is concerned we were okay, on the safe side. People would come, we thought. Because it was not the same. Well, with the difference of 10% that had the first semifinal and the second semifinal. It was not the case in the past.

So when we analyze the data, it's difficult for us to think will they come or will they not come? However, we agree with your conclusions for this year.

STEPHANE MOREL: There's something we can't see if you're in the press stands or elsewhere, is that people think, okay, I'll eat something and I'll be on the court at the very last minute, but then they don't realize that they will be queueing, so for the first three games they're blocked outside. People don't have the reflex to come 20 minutes earlier. It's a reflex that people don't have.

It creates frustration in the corridors. People are queueing. If you walk around the stadium five minutes before, you will see people are queueing because there's a bottleneck effect, and therefore, what we have to do, and that's a challenge that we have, is to tell these people, and this is what we'll do today as much as we can, we'll tell people to come at least 15 minutes before, not 5, because otherwise you will miss the first three games. You won't be able to watch the first three games.

That's why there's a huge difference between the first game and the third one. Because for the third game, usually the queueing is almost stopped.

Q. Now, how will the stadium change tomorrow for the Olympics? What are the operation specifications? What's going to be organized for the Roland Garros that's going to be modified, deeply I suppose?

STEPHANE MOREL: I can talk about it from 15 June onwards. That's very soon. We will give access to the teams of Paris 2024 and from 30 June onwards all the teams of the Federation who are not concerned by the Olympic Games, that's the majority of the staff, will be excluded. We'll give the keys to Paris 2024, and then there's a preparation that will be done through our dedicated team and the Paris 2024 teams.

What is certain is that for the Olympic Games, the tennis part, it will be for during the first week until the Sunday. So the first week of the Olympics, it will be over the entire stadium. It will look like Roland Garros without the logo Roland Garros on the side. We will hide all the Roland Garros logos and all the logos of our partners whom we know.

At the end of the tennis competition of the Sunday, Monday will be off, and then we will install a boxing ring. From Tuesday till the end of the Olympics we'll have quarterfinal, semis, and finals on the Philippe Chatrier Court, and it will be the boxing discipline competition.

Then end of August, beginning of September we'll have the Paralympic Games with wheelchair tennis draws, and this will only be in the historic part, not the Simonne Mathieu part and the Orangerie. It will be within the area where you are currently.

(Questions in English.)

Q. You cited the Parisian culture as a reason for not being able to move the start time of the night session any earlier to accommodate two matches. It's also, as you've been discussing in French, clearly part of Parisian culture to not be in seats on Chatrier at 11:00 a.m. for that first match, and to a slightly lesser degree, the second match. Of the 11 days when both men's and women's matches could be scheduled first on Chatrier, it has been women's matches every day, including the quarterfinals. I just wondered what the thinking was behind that.

AMELIE MAURESMO: I think you had the same question last year. The answer is also that we try. We have three big courts that we try to balance, where we try to balance the schedule.

Do you know how many men started on Lenglen this year?

Q. But I also know there are...

AMELIE MAURESMO: How many times a man started at 11:00?

Q. But you don't play finals or semifinals on Lenglen. So that's not a balance.

AMELIE MAURESMO: I know, but it's our two bigger courts, and you know, as well as I do, that especially in the first week of the main draw, we balance these two big courts, because, I mean, all the matches that we have to play, those are our big courts.

Q. So to be clear, you're comfortable with the balance?

AMELIE MAURESMO: I'm trying, we try to do our best with that balance, yes. We don't only make a schedule for one court. We try to balance everything, not only even in those two courts, we try to balance everything out of all the courts that are playing for singles.

Q. Finally, Ons Jabeur did express disappointment that her quarterfinal was scheduled first. Any response to that?

AMELIE MAURESMO: That she was scheduled first?

Q. At 11:00 a.m., yeah.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Well, we know there's going to be a match at 11:00 a.m. So... What was her call? She wanted someone else to be scheduled at 11:00 a.m.?

Q. Maybe a men's match.

AMELIE MAURESMO: When we do the schedule we try to have many different things in mind, and that's how it was for this year.

She was Tuesday or Wednesday? I don't remember.

Q. You're right, we have asked these questions for a couple of years now. Two years ago I think the night session was nine men's matches and one women's match. I think the same the following year. This year you've added an additional match, and it's 11 and 0. Does it sadden you that you haven't been able to find a solution to that situation?

AMELIE MAURESMO: It does. But we are, again, it's not a matter of how interesting the matches can be or could be. For us it's a matter of the length of the matches. I'm always going to be responding, kind of responding the same thing to you, in terms of the people that are coming to watch the match, the 15,000 people that are coming. It's complicated for us to think that maybe it's going to be very, very short. So we try our best, and it's not easy. It's not satisfying, definitely.

But yeah, that was our choice this year, which doesn't mean it's going to be the choice next year, and things can change also.

Q. Finally, what was the reason that you decided not to add a second best-of-three set match, whether it be another women's match or --

AMELIE MAURESMO: In the night schedule?

Q. In the night session, either another women's match or a doubles match to follow.

AMELIE MAURESMO: You mean if we put a woman's match?

Q. Yes. If you were to have two best-of-three-set matches in the night session rather than one best-of-five-set matches.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Because our goal is also to try not to have the players starting late and finishing late, which we were not able -- because of the weather this year we did it, but I think it was very complicated to avoid it this year. But we don't put two matches starting at 8:30 because we don't want to finish late. That's also because if the first match is two-and-a-half, three hours, then you start at 11:00 or 11:30. So we never know.

Q. Was the alcohol ban in the stands necessary, do you think? Has that contributed to the empty seats?

AMELIE MAURESMO: To the empty seats?

Q. Because people need to go and get a drink.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Okay, I don't think so at all (smiling), that it was influencing the stadium being full or not.

Honestly, I don't think in the end of the day it was necessary, because it wasn't the first decision we made. The first decision we made -- first of all, I want to say that the atmosphere was unbelievable throughout these three weeks. I said it in French at the beginning.

It's not because -- there was one incident on David's match that we have to make a general comment about how Roland Garros was this year in terms of atmosphere and people not behaving or whatever.

But the first thing that we said to our security department is these individuals, because there are just individuals in the middle of the big stadiums, we know them, they know them, they spot them, and just tell them to calm down and just by appearing next to them from the security guys, that was it. Since that day, nothing happened.

So honestly, in my opinion, the alcohol, maybe it wasn't necessary, and I don't think it was the reason why the stadium at some point was empty.

GILLES MORETTON: You didn't see but we had the same case on the Philippe Chatrier once, because I was the one to mention the people to the security, and they went out, two, just two of them. It was the Zverev match, I think, and they were in front of the umpire. You didn't see that, I did, and they were limit, so we said out.

So they went out for a while and then they came back for the next match and I said, okay, slow down a little bit, and they were very happy. So I won't say how and why and what but it can happen.

It's only cases, and I agree with what Amelie said, the atmosphere is just unbelievable. I'm very happy that people are enjoying watching tennis, because I have been in Australia, I have been in Indian Wells, and all those people are very, very happy watch tennis. And they really respect tennis, those. But there is always sometimes guys who, you know, they go too far. It's also good to tennis.

And I mention some team matches where it's no atmosphere at all sometimes, I like those people enjoying, watching tennis. We need them. Control them but we need them.

Q. Last year you mentioned that you were pleased that you got a good balance of that third match on Chatrier, which is another big slot, the last afternoon slot.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Okay.

Q. Last year there were actually more women's matches in that slot than men's, but this year it's flipped back to I think six men, four women, on the days where there could have been either.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Six men, four women. On third spot?

Q. That third match on Chatrier. But that's also a big prime time slot which you cited as a way of slightly counterbalancing the fact that the evening slot had always been a men's match. But this year it's gone back. That slot also is more men's matches in the last four days where it could have been either and it was all men's. How conscious are you of that? How big a concern is that? Because it means often on Chatrier women's matches were done by 2:00, 3:00, and young people coming home from school or whatever, they don't get to see any women's tennis. Is that something that you're conscious of?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Okay, so this year we were very conscious about it because we had no choice. Because this year, if you remember, the first week that we had, we were finishing the matches how we could on every court most of the days. I think one day we didn't even play, but most of the days we finished very late.

Yes, our choice for the players that were playing late and best-of-five was to give them a little bit more rest. So six and four is still okay, given the conditions that we had this year.

Some players has also played every day. So if you remember, there were some canceled matches and everything. When we do the scheduling, we also try to think about each player, each individual player, and give them the extra rest or to be fair to the opponent and try to keep the brackets how we could. So that was one reason.

But six and four out of this first week of main draw that we had, we did also what we could, because I think the weather conditions didn't help us on this at all.

Q. So that ratio feels okay to you, plus the night session match, plus taking into account that slot?

AMELIE MAURESMO: The thing is when you enter this first week of main draw with this unbalanced way of playing the matches, all in the evening, basically, all of them, some were starting in the morning, but then waiting all day and finishing in the evening, apart from those that we were canceling, it's tough to then get back to balance it, to balance it a different way, actually.

Q. It's my understanding that during the Olympics, the evening session will be scheduled for 7:00 p.m.

AMELIE MAURESMO: I'm not -- yeah, Olympics I have no idea --

GILLES MORETTON: I really can't tell you. That's the ITF. I haven't got -- I haven't seen the schedule yet, but I don't know if they're playing at night or I don't know. It's a good question anyway.

Q. Yeah, there's going to be the day session at 12:00 and then night session at 7:00 p.m., with two matches. I do appreciate that men's matches are best-of-three sets at the Olympics so it's different. And I also do appreciate that probably the crowd that is going to go to the Olympics in August is going to be different from the one that is attending Roland Garros. But would you consider that as a trial test to see if that could possibly work?

GILLES MORETTON: What would be very different, for the Olympics, as I mentioned on Roland Garros, some of the spectators are from the French, are tennis members. From the Olympics, unfortunately we don't know who is gonna come. I hope it's tennis fans. But for France, we don't know. We could have, I said to the Olympic committee and to Paris 2024, I said, I told them that maybe one day we won't have any French tennis members in Roland Garros, because you don't know who will be there.

So will there be fans or not? I think Olympics is something very different. And will they stay from the beginning, from the first point to the last point? No idea.

Q. If I may, a different question for Amelie, in hindsight, I understand that hindsight is 20/20, but do you think that putting --

AMELIE MAURESMO: The what?

Q. In hindsight, with the benefit of knowing what happened now.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Okay. It's always easier when you do the scheduling when the day is over, much easier (smiling).

Q. Knowing what happened, which you obviously didn't, would you make a different choice on Saturday night instead of putting Dimitrov/Bergs on Chatrier and delaying the Djokovic/Musetti match?

AMELIE MAURESMO: You know what? I'm not even going to answer this question. Because as I said, it's always easy afterwards, when you know how the day is going to go, perfect. Any day, actually. Whether it's rains, rains, oh, it rained at this time? Okay, so -- doesn't work like that.

Q. One quick question about the idea of this culture here and the idea of people not wanting to come at 7:00 p.m. Have you thought about the possibility that if you were to start a night match at 7:00 p.m., maybe people would show up, they've paid for tickets or been given them for free? Maybe they would leave work a little early and come watch tennis.

AMELIE MAURESMO: For two matches then?

Q. Yeah.

STEPHANE MOREL: Along with this cultural approach, we also have a logistical one, meaning, with the day session ending on all courts sometimes at 9:00 p.m. or later, the thing is that our stadium is too small compared to the US Open one or the Australian Open one, to manage, to welcome, I would say, night fans, perhaps at 5:30 or 6:00 to be able to be seated at 7:00, and still to be able to, let's say, welcome in good conditions the day guys who are still around.

So this logistical/operational constraints made us, let's say, change our mind and our position. That's why we are different compared to the US Open and the Australian Open. So that's not only cultural.

Q. Then I did also just want to ask whether it's fair to say -- Amelie mostly but anyone can answer -- that the WTA Tour, perhaps women's players or anyone else that don't love the idea of zero prime time exposure for women's tennis in night matches, need to just accept that that's not going to change here, that for various reasons, whether it's TV or other explanations you've offered, that it's just this is the way it's going to be.

AMELIE MAURESMO: First of all, when we do the scheduling, the WTA is in the room as well as the ATP as well as the Grand Slam supervisor, TV, we are all together, referee, obviously. We are all together.

I did not see any push also to have the women's match in the evening. So I think it's very complicated decision. Those decisions are complicated to make. It's not easy, yes, having one match makes things complicated in this matter, but again, I never say it's gonna be never. And again, I will not say it.

For now, that's not what it's all about.

Q. You have been talking about things you're going to be looking at in this debrief. What key issues will you be looking at? Because obviously we've been hearing there are quite a few problems in terms of optics of the tournament, the fact that there is this imbalance, there is this inequality, and it's quite flagrant. It's becoming more and more difficult to justify. What other issues are you going to be looking at? Because clearly, if you're not coming up with a solution for this issue next year, then questions will be asked about the organization and the tournament itself.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Maybe you can tell us some more issues that we need to address. But yeah, those are things that we address all the time and that we are sometimes not comfortable with, but when you fix one thing, there is another thing that is not gonna work.

That's the big thing that we have to address and we will do it in a couple of weeks all together without hiding behind anything. I think we talk to ourselves, to each other pretty openly. Not only us here in the room but all the operational people and all the staff, everyone. We try to get things better, but it's not as straightforward as it might look.

Q. Novak Djokovic said he thinks the knee injury was caused by the surface, the court surface, that it was too slippery, and that if it had been allowed to be swept more frequently, then that would have helped and he potentially wouldn't have got injured. He felt like his injury was avoidable if they'd have just swept the courts more frequently. How do you respond to that? Have you had talks with the grounds staff on this issue? Will you look at allowing, in certain extreme weather scenarios, will you look into allowing the court to be swept more frequently?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Sorry, I didn't understand the last part.

Q. Djokovic asked whether the court could be swept more frequently. Is that something that you'll look into allowing in future years?

AMELIE MAURESMO: I think it's depending, from my understanding, it's not only depending on the player asking. Maybe it's also the umpire decision. Also, I think the Grand Slam supervisor was on the court on that day, also made the decision not to. So I think those decisions are made on court obviously with the people who can judge if that's possible or not.

So that's what happened on that day, and the decision, you saw, was made.

Q. A question on what you think of the state of tennis and with Saudi Arabia trying to get into it, is that good, is that bad? Your opinion.

GILLES MORETTON: My opinion on what's happening now, our sport is a huge sport, and I'm very happy that countries like Saudi Arabia are interested about tennis. We are all together. I mean, the slams, ATP, WTA meeting, we don't tell everyone what's happening, but we are working on it.

Our objective, we all have the same objective. It's how can we increase, improve our sport for our worldwide fans. So that's it. So we are trying to, and we all are concerned. We all feel like there is probably a few changes to make. So let's work.

That's what I will say, and we are working on it. We had meetings. You can see the slams, we are very close, all four, and also from past (indiscernible) member, we are still close to the tour, very close to the players, very concerned about the future of tennis. So we are working on it. That's it.

Thank you. Merci.