ROLAND GARROS

June 1, 2026

Amelie Mauresmo

Press Conference from FFT audio

THE MODERATOR: Hello, everyone. We'll start with the questions in French.

Q. There is going to be a very promising night session, isn't there?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Absolutely. We always try to have good night sessions. Tonight it's Sabalenka versus Osaka. Both are multiple Grand Slam champions. It's going to be a wonderful duel.

Q. It's going to last long, do you think?

AMELIE MAURESMO: I hope so. They're all in great shape. We've seen them involved since the beginning of the tournament. They're fit and in good shape.

Aryna wants to turn the ship around and take her revenge as to the finals that took place last year, so it's cool. Naomi is doing very well on clay this year.

Q. Let's go back to the heat.

AMELIE MAURESMO: I think we've never had so many summer days over 30 degrees during the tournament, so I think everyone, the spectators, the players, everyone, had to suffer from the heat. It's true that in Paris it's quite unexpected, but it's far from what we can have in Australia, because you can have humid heat. In the U.S., as well.

We've had more extreme conditions on the tour, in general.

Q. Does it lead you to think about changes for after the tournament?

AMELIE MAURESMO: We always try to review everything after each tournament. We have an end of June debriefing seminar where we review everything, we look into everything that we can adjust. This will be part of the subjects that will be addressed to see if we need to make changes should it happen again.

Q. What about the famous index dealing with the temperature and humidity?

AMELIE MAURESMO: I don't know the name anymore.

Q. Do you think that you could have this index go down, or is it a general rule for all Grand Slams?

AMELIE MAURESMO: It's a general rule for Grand Slams that we apply, but then should we review this index or not, I don't know, honestly. I gather that it has been studied with doctors as to the physiology of players.

But, once again, you know it just like I do, we've had more extreme conditions, and we still kept on playing. Of course, these are difficult conditions, and we suffer.

Q. Did you think about having the matches start later, at 5 p.m. and finish at 3 a.m., as Novak said during one of his press conferences? Maybe it won't please everyone.

AMELIE MAURESMO: We haven't considered yet this year. Overall, we were standing at 1.5 points under the threshold to interrupt the matches. We were far from absolute figures that would prompt us to change the scheduling.

Q. There was a coach that got injured during a match. There's also a doubles player, and there was a post on the social media on this.

AMELIE MAURESMO: First, we're very sorry about this. It's very difficult, and we're sorry for this, but as you can see, we have changed the layout of the advertising. We put them backwards behind the baseline, even though we are far and beyond the minimum requirements on that field. So we have changed throughout the tournament.

Q. We had a lot of surprises in the tournament. We still have a French tennis player.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Yes, we have a French tennis player who is still playing. We'll have another opportunity to see her run deep. She played quite well before the tournament. She's in good shape, and she has some chance to win against excellent players, so we'll see what will happen for her.

Q. After Paris Saint-Germain, will we have another trophy presentation?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Well, we may have a good surprise again as we had last year. We will see.

Q. On the scheduling, were there difficult choices? What about Moise playing during the PSG match? And how about the Hawk-Eye where yesterday there was an important decision?

AMELIE MAURESMO: As for the scheduling, choices are always difficult. There are days that are easier than others. On a daily basis we do our utmost to try to plan everything ahead as much as we can in the best possible way.

I think it was on Saturday, you know how much as I do, how difficult it is to anticipate the duration of matches, so we try to take into account as well the requests, the special requests, from players.

As to the Hawk-Eye, first, we are always thinking about it. We're open on any issue and subject anyway. We have seen that over the last weeks that preceded Roland Garros, the reliability of the Hawk-Eye is not a done deal. So starting from this, we decided to trust our umpires and judges.

It's a normal subject that is always food for thought. We actually work on this during the debriefing seminar every year. You've seen it several times. This system is not reliable as of yet.

Q. How about the players' desires?

AMELIE MAURESMO: They're the first ones to see that on clay. As far as we're concerned, the Hawk-Eye is not totally reliable.

Q. Is the Hawk-Eye less reliable on clay than on other surfaces?

AMELIE MAURESMO: I don't know. We should ask specialists.

Q. Is it less reliable than the human eye?

AMELIE MAURESMO: I don't have an answer to that either. However, it is important to show and say out loud that we trust our system based on umpires and line judges, and we always try to review everything after the tournament.

Q. What about Blockx that asked for a financial indemnity on account of his injury sustained by tripping on the court cover? Is it something that is possible?

AMELIE MAURESMO: I haven't heard about any request, any claim. I don't know. I don't think this is on the table.

Q. Is it possible?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Honestly, there has been no claims so far, so this is not on the table.

Q. How do you review this first week in terms of main draw, a lot of seeded players are out now?

AMELIE MAURESMO: It's very interesting, surprising. We'll have a new Grand Slam champion coming up. This is exciting. I always watch Grand Slam championships.

I often say I'm a good spectator, and I like to see what sports has in store for us.

When I saw Carlos versus Jannik for men's tennis, and then we had Aryna versus Coco last year, there was no big surprise, but it was exciting tennis. Now, this year we'll have surprises on both sides, and this is wonderful, as well. We can see a new generation coming up on men's tennis and women's tennis.

The Next Gen players can actually seize opportunities, and it's wonderful for the end of the tournament, but also for what will come up afterwards for women's tennis, as well.

I think about Iga and Coco that are out. There are still a lot of champions in the main draw. It's still very interesting.

Q. What about the presentation of the trophy with the PSG? Will there be something like last year?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Last year it was not well-organized.

Q. Yes, but year after year this has been a well-oiled machine.

AMELIE MAURESMO: I would like to have more information to give you right now.

Q. You may want to have them come up in the court?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Yes, if they have the time and opportunity to come back on court, we would be delighted to have them.

Q. What about the farewell ceremony of David Goffin? It was one of the highlights of the tournament.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Yes, even before his last match, it was actually a very moving time. David is a prominent figure of the tournament and has been so all throughout his career. The fact that we gave him wild card, the fact that we saw him end up his career here, we did shed some tears.

Q. A word on Moise Kouame?

AMELIE MAURESMO: This is exceptional at his age. He's been showcasing wonderful tennis with the little experience he has, or no experience at all. He's had so many wonderful matches back-to-back. He's managed to handle the crowd very well.

His level of play was wonderful. He's managed to show that he had a huge game variation, and he's got a lot ahead of him. It's wonderful.

Q. What about the decision that has been made regarding Daniel Vallejo?

AMELIE MAURESMO: I thought you knew it. Yes, there was a decision that was made, $65,000. That's half of his prize money. So clearly, this is something that is not acceptable for us as a tournament. Words like this should not be added in this arena. Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Can we start with the night session, and why now a woman's match there after 32 in a row? What was the thinking behind the decision?

AMELIE MAURESMO: After what? Sorry.

Q. After 32 men's matches in the night session, I think. Why the change?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Well, I think this match is the best match of the day, multiple Grand Slam winners. It was obvious that it should be a night match tonight.

Q. Why not before then? Was there not a good enough match before then?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Oh, the matchups are always interesting on both men and women, but you know, multiple factors for us to make the choice, as usual. As you know, the potential length of the matches is something that we are also looking, so it has been decided this at night.

Q. I wanted to ask about the line call. There was a bit of controversy yesterday. Is there going to be a review of bringing in the Hawk-Eye next year or using it?

AMELIE MAURESMO: No, I mean, this question we ask ourselves after the tournament each year, because obviously we stay open to everything, every new technology that is available for us. The thing is that as of today and from what we've seen in the previous clay court tournaments in the last few months is that it appears that the technology on the clay is not 100% reliable.

It's also when you see Casper's reaction also last night, I mean, from what I see, he wasn't shocked by the umpire's decision. I think it's also we have to keep in mind that this technology, as of today, is not 100% reliable.

Q. There's been a change made. The blocks at the back of the court, they've been moved. Can you just talk about that decision, as well?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Yeah, although our courts are way bigger than what is required in the rules, we've made the decision to push the blocks a little bit back, to give even more space to the players. Yeah, this is something we adjusted in the tournament.

Q. On some of the practice courts as well there was an issue with Alex Blockx where he hurt himself. He was upset about that. I wonder if there is thoughts given to expand those courts as well if that's possible?

AMELIE MAURESMO: We expand them as much as we can for this year. We cannot make some big works out there, but, yeah, the message is to everyone, all the people working on the court, to make sure there is as much room as possible.

Q. Is there scope to expand?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Sorry?

Q. Is there scope to expand sort of in the years to come?

AMELIE MAURESMO: This is also a subject we will talk after the tournament. Obviously hard to do some big things during the tournament, but definitely something that we will put on the table to see how we can try to make things different.

But, again, the thing is today our courts are way bigger than what is required. We'll talk about that, for sure.

Q. There were long lines at the boutique last year, and there were long lines this year. I was wondering if there's anything you are considering?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Did you try to buy something (laughing)?

Q. No, no, no, I actually managed to buy something. At 10:00 in the morning is the best time. Is there anything you're trying to consider to give more people a chance to spend more money (laughing)?

AMELIE MAURESMO: We are trying. We are trying. It's not an easy thing to do, because as you know, we don't have the space that we would like to have in Roland Garros, so we try to make things less complicated. Easier maybe, but less complicated and less wait.

Honestly, we struggle a little bit on this part, because, yes, the tournament is great and people are here, people are responding well to what there is on the court and off court, as well.

So we're working on it, but we don't have a miracle possibility, because our stadium is not as big as we would like.

Q. Just the answer on the line judges then, is that something that you review, or do you feel that policy of having human line judges rather than electronic line calling, that's sort of set for the foreseeable future, or you will kind of address that, review it after the tournament?

AMELIE MAURESMO: We will address everything, to be honest. Each year we address everything. We've been addressing this last year, also, even the fact that the electric line calling is really coming in the tennis environment.

These are decisions that we take. We have our meeting in the end of the month, end of June. We address everything, yes.

Q. Broadly, you're pretty happy with how it's gone so far with human line judges?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Well, I think it's gone well, yeah. Honestly, it's gone well opening week and first week of the tournament so far.

Again, I think as of today, again, the machine is not 100% reliable, so we keep the confidence to the human.

Q. In Italy it was such a big topic, the time of the match of Sinner. For long-time fans, of course, was everything normal, but if you could try to explain to the new fans that in Italy are quite a lot... if, for example, there was a request from Sinner or his team where the decision was just made?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Okay. So I will never comment TV request, player request. I never really comment that.

Q. For media, it's pretty normal, but the readers in Italy are --

AMELIE MAURESMO: I don't know how to explain kind of.

Q. For example, Iga said that she asked to play in the morning, for example, and she was satisfied.

AMELIE MAURESMO: No, the players can talk about what their request or what they want is. They're free to do it. We as a tournament are not going to talk about it, whether it's TV, whether it's players.

So it was kind of -- I don't know how to give an explanation on why the match was at 12. It just seemed good for everyone, the tournament, everyone.

Q. Just wanted to ask you maybe about what's going on with the sport this year? Do you consider this Roland Garros the most surprising in the last years? I'm a member of Polish media, so there is no Swiatek, four-time champion, there is no Sinner.

AMELIE MAURESMO: It's a surprising edition. It's an exciting edition, in my opinion also. I mean, every year we have excitement, whether the top seeds are going to the end of the tournament or not.

I feel like a spectator also in these Grand Slams when I watch it, when I witness what's going on. The favorites, they go to the end, it's interesting and exciting. The underdogs, if they go, I think there is excitement each time. Unexpected sometimes, which is also, you know, good.

But I'm really looking forward for this last week of the tournament and see in both draws what's going to happen.

Q. Why is that good to have, like, new champions?

AMELIE MAURESMO: It's good. I mean, we take it as it comes really, honestly. Anything is good in my opinion, because tennis is going well. The matches that we've seen are unbelievably long and big fights out there on both draws.

You know, I think for tennis, in general, it's really good.

Q. Just on the night sessions as well, was that a unanimous decision? Was everyone in agreement that this match tonight should -- because obviously it's been such a long time without a women's match.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Yeah, I think it was pretty obvious this should be the night's match.

Q. Is it fair to say then that it is still the main thing governing the decision is the length of matches, because it's taken such an extraordinarily good women's match compared to, honestly, name-wise, some not-so-good men's matches?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Like I was saying, it is still something that for us is one element of the decision, yes.

Q. But not the kind of the most important one, necessarily, the length?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Right, it's part of it, yeah.

Q. The protest during Media Day, some of the players that refused to talk more than --

AMELIE MAURESMO: Seems like a long time ago, but yes (laughing). True, true.

Q. Do you expect that episodes like that are behind us or behind you? Do you expect anything in the near future or in the longer future?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Listen, what I see is that we've engaged the conversation with the players, which if we want to make it that legally because of the suits, we were supposed to not do. That's also an explanation on why we came to this point. That's what the lawyers and everyone was saying to us and to pretty much everyone.

So at some point we said, that's it, because the most important is to have this partnership with the players as Roland Garros. I'm talking now as tournament director in Roland Garros.

So in my opinion, because this communication is back for us, as far as we are concerned, I'm confident, again, that, you know, things are going to move forward and that everyone will understand each other. As I said, there needs to be steps from both sides to make sure that this partnership is working.

Q. If I may, this conversation, is it happening Roland Garros to players? Is it an effort by all the slams together? Somebody is doing the wrong thing? If you could give us a bit of an idea of what's happening?

AMELIE MAURESMO: For now, we are only able to talk about what we are doing. We welcome everyone to the table of these talks, because I think for tennis it would be great, but as of today, this conversation is happening between us and the players.

To be honest, we are in the middle of the tournament with many things, so probably we'll go a little bit more forward after the tournament, and by the end of Wimbledon we will see a clearer picture.

Q. Amelie, without meaning to put any words in your mouth --

AMELIE MAURESMO: Oh, my God (laughing).

Q. Do you think that in a lot of cases the players actually don't understand and appreciate what goes on with one of the majors, and the fact that so many of the funds that are generated by the majors are going back into the sport and the grassroots from the federations and that particular federation paying for other events to be able to stage, providing players jobs, and all those sort of things are not appreciated enough by the players?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Well, we have a role, I think. The model of the Federation of Roland Garros, but the Federation, I think we also have the duty to explain it maybe better also, because it's an economical model that we are nonprofit. So it all goes back to the roots of tennis, to the ITF, to the ATP, to the WTA also.

We need to make sure to explain it probably better and, yeah, to make sure that everyone understands the situation. That's why I said that. From one side and the other side, you know, I'm pretty confident that there will be steps towards each other in a win-win manner. It comes from the understanding, but the explanation also, in my opinion.

Q. Can I ask you, Andy Murray is stepping into coaching again, Jack Draper. What do you think of that?

AMELIE MAURESMO: Exciting.

Q. Do you think it's a good thing for him?

AMELIE MAURESMO: It's a good thing. It's a good thing. I think with the experience he has and all he's been through, for Jack is pretty positive. I mean, I'm excited and impatient to see how it goes.

Not only in the first, I mean, there's going to be a lot of expectations for them in the U.K., but also, you know, how it goes in a mid-longer term for them. I'm always happy to see Andy around.

Q. As someone who has been shouted out by Andy, do you think it would be quite interesting for Andy to take it now from Jack? It's a different role.

AMELIE MAURESMO: I haven't really seen Jack being on top of his box or...

Q. No, to be fair, but he has a chance.

AMELIE MAURESMO: We'll see. We'll see.

Q. Do you think that Andy knows --

AMELIE MAURESMO: He knows. He knows what's going on. He knows it's not personal, that nothing is personal.

Q. Can I just very quickly fact-check something. The meeting with the FFT and the player group that I think happened last week, the player group were quite positive about. I just wondered from your perspective on that.

AMELIE MAURESMO: Oh, same. I think it was quite positive from everyone. Yeah, honestly I don't see why they shouldn't get to something that makes everyone happy, to be honest.