For the first time in three years, Roland Garros have decided a women’s match is worthy of the popcorn slot. It’s long been a belief among female stars that the French Open’s daily night match on Court Philippe-Chatrier had become a ring-fenced little boys’ club.
‘I don’t even associate this tournament with night matches,’ was Japanese star Naomi Osaka’s withering assessment when the idea of her mouth-watering showdown with world number one Aryna Sabalenka might even be considered for prime-time selection.
And why would she? Each of the last 32 night slots have gone to men’s matches, none since Sabalenka beat Sloane Stephens in the third round in 2023. Even since the tournament introduced the evening slot in 2021, only four of the first 60 have gone to the women.
Ons Jabeur, two-time Wimbledon champion, once questioned whether the people who made the decision ‘have daughters’. Jessica Pegula, the American world number five, said it was like ‘hitting her head against a wall’.
Another Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo, now Roland Garros tournament director, has forever argued that men’s matches, played over five sets and less likely to finish quickly, offer more value for money for tickets that can go up to £240 – they want ‘popcorn matches’, as Osaka put it – but she met the new WTA chief executive Valerie Camillo this week, who called for a greater representation among the women.
Well, now we have a fifth and, in many ways, they had no choice. As blockbusters go, the prospect of two bona fide superstars in Osaka and Sabalenka slugging it out for a place in the last eight is as good as a final itself. The best player in the world, who has been sporting £76,000 of diamond and garnet jewellery all tournament (despite also staging protests for a greater share of prize money), against the woman who’s brought the catwalk to the clay with her ‘Eiffel Tower’ dress and opening-round corset and skirt upcycled from her old Nike playing kit. What will she have in store for the evening do?
Naomi Osaka has refused to back down on her eye-catching costumes, turning up for her French Open third-round match in a billowing dress
Osaka will next face Aryna Sabalenka, who has been forced to deny she is a hypocrite after wearing lavish jewellery while calling for players to be paid more
And with the women’s draw now as scattered as the men’s, this really is the one that could decide it all. After Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek, the four-time French Open queen of clay, crashed out in straight sets to Ukrainian star Marta Kostyuk having watched reigning champion Coco Gauff fall away the night before, it means Sabalenka and Osaka remain the only Grand Slam champions left in the draw. By the end of tomorrow night, there will be just one.
The rest of the draw still involves a qualifier in Maja Chwalinska and 36-year-old Romanian
Sorana Cirstea, who has not reached the quarter-final at Roland Garros since 2009 and is retiring at the end of the season.
The last time they met in a Grand Slam was at the US Open in 2018, a clash that would end up as a bit of a sliding doors moment. Osaka won it and went on to beat Serena Williams in the final to become a Grand Slam champion at the age of 20. She won another three over the next three years. Sabalenka, also 20 at the time, would have to wait until 2023 for her first title. What might have been.
There is a similar feel about this one, too. The path to glory is open to whoever wins under the lights.
Whichever two women were chosen, after all this time, to be the first to play in the night slot, they were always also going to be burdened with an unfair pressure to make it a spectacle. To have to prove, ridiculously, that the decision to put them last was deserved after all.
That, in itself, shows just how much of a problem Roland Garros have caused for themselves with their continued and deliberate insistence on sticking with the blokes.
No one said a word when Alexander Zverev bulldozed Tomas Machac in just an hour and three quarters on Wednesday night. If tonight is as one-sided, they certainly will. How much longer will they wait before they do it again?
Thankfully, if there were any two stars more ready to seize that chance, it’s these two. If you’re watching, make sure to bring the popcorn.
