Roland Garros tournament director Amelie Mauresmo has responded to criticism over a contentious decision to close the roof during a match.
Strong winds have hit Paris during the second week of the French Open, and conditions were particularly challenging for the quarter-final matches played on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Wednesday.
After play opened with Maja Chwalinska’s victory over Anna Kalinskaya, world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka struggled in the wind as she collapsed to a shock three-set defeat to Diana Shnaider in the second match.
Flavio Cobolli then came from a set down to beat Felix Auger-Aliassime in four sets in the third match on the schedule.
The roof on Court Philippe-Chatrier was closed after the first of the Cobolli-Auger-Aliassime match, which made conditions far more favourable for the players, although there was no rain.
This decision sparked some controversy after the two women’s matches were played with the roof open, and given that this match began with it open.
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Sabalenka questioned why the roof was not closed for her match with Shnaider.
“That’s another question – I don’t know why they would keep the roof open when it was crazy windy,” the Belarusian said. “But how can I complain if for almost the whole match everything was working okay for me, and then it just slipped away?
Speaking at a press conference to review this year’s edition of Roland Garros on Sunday, Mauresmo explained that the roof was closed due to the weather forecast.
“The only match where we closed the roof and it didn’t actually rain was, I think, Felix [Auger-Aliassime against Cobolli],” said the former world No 1.
“Once the roof is closed, the sun can reappear, but it stays closed. That’s the rule.
“However, we have a roof closure time of about 12 minutes. We try to anticipate things as much as possible, the idea being not to interrupt the game.
“The players, generally speaking, agree to continue playing while the roof is closing. The idea is to avoid any interruption for the players and the spectators.
“So we have to anticipate in a certain way. When the weather forecast says it’s going to rain in 10 minutes, we make the decision to close the roof. It just so happened that once, it didn’t rain.
“It’s not an exact science. That’s why we close. Conversely, it’s happened once or twice that, actually, it worked out well in the meantime. We make decisions based on the data we have at that precise moment.”
