Amelie-Mauresmo-sportstiger

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Former Grand Slam champion and French Open tournament director Amelie Mauresmo has apologized for her comments on women’s tennis during the ongoing Roland Garros. Mauresmo had said that women’s tennis is not as appealing as the men’s game. Addressing the statements, she expressed that her words were taken out of context.

"First of all the comments that I made were taken out of the wider picture, out of the context," Mauresmo told Tennis Channel on Thursday. And I want to say sorry to the players that really felt bad about what I said. Again, I think the people who know me, who've known me on and off the court, throughout my career, throughout everything that I've done, know that I'm a big fighter for equal rights and women's tennis, women in general," she continued. 

Mauresmo was quoted saying that putting only women's players is often difficult on the schedule for spectators with a single ticket for the evening only. She also added that the tournament is looking to tweak the format next year.

"Concerning the scheduling, specifically for the night matches, my say was that because we have one match only, it's really tougher to schedule a woman's match because we have to take into consideration the length," Mauresmo said.

"It's the fair thing to do for the ticketholders. "Next year to be more fair to the women's players it would be good to maybe have the possibility to put two matches or maybe a women's match plus a doubles match," she added. 

Despite comments from Amelie Mauresmo, the women’s final of the event between Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff has been one of the most anticipated bouts of the tournament. Both individuals have been playing incredible tennis and hence fans are guaranteed to have an intense battle. 

Coco Gauff, who is playing in her first Grand Slam final, talked about facing Swiatek, who has been in incredible form. She said, "I think going in I have nothing to lose and she's definitely the favourite going into the match on paper. I'm just going to play free and play my best tennis. I think in a Grand Slam final anything can happen.”

"If I do lift the trophy, honestly, I don't think my life is going to change really. I know it sounds kind of bad to say that, but the people who love me are still going to love me regardless if I lift the trophy or not."