French Open 2026: Will Aryna Sabalenka and Naomi Osaka ‘open door’ for women’s night sessions?

Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo, herself a former women’s world number one, regularly pointed to the possibility of shorter two-set matches as a reason for overlooking the women.

“Matches are always interesting for both men and women, but there are many factors that make us choose,” Mauresmo said in a statement earlier Monday. he said.

“As you know, the potential length of matches is also something we are looking at.”

In choosing Sabalenka over Osaka, he added: “It was clear that tonight had to be a night match.”

However, if men’s world number one Jannik Sinner was still in the tournament, there was thought Mauresmo might have looked elsewhere.

Sinner was scheduled to play the same day, but without him there would be no star power in the men’s matches on Monday.

If the Sabalenka-Osaka match had not been under the lights, which women’s match would have been chosen?

With that came a sense of anticipation.

If the match ended in failure, then it could be used as a stick by critics to beat the women’s match.

Some suggest this is due to the French Open’s reluctance to showcase its female stars.

Was representing the women’s gaming expo the burden it placed on Sabalenka and Osaka?

“I really don’t care. There are so many different things that would put pressure on myself that this was the last thing on my mind,” Osaka said.

“Thank you to the tournament for trusting us; I hope it was fun for people.”