French Open tournament Director Amelie Mauresmo apologized Thursday for saying that men’s tennis had more “appeal” than women’s tennis but insisted she was taken out of context.
The official was speaking to reporters on the mechanics of scheduling matches when she said that for evening matches, men’s pairings have more “appeal” to ticket holders, the New York Post reported.
The response came after reporters asked why nine of ten evening matches have always been men’s games.
But on Thursday, was forced to address the growing controversy her comments stirred.
“First of all, the comments that I made were taken out of the wider picture, out of the context,” she said, adding, “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,” Mauresmo continued.
She added that time constraints often make scheduling more women’s matches troublesome, but said that they would look into maybe having two instead of just one women’s match during evening schedules.
Last week, Wimbledon addressed a long-standing women’s issue by eliminating the “Miss” and Mrs” from its women’s honor board.
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