What did Coco Gauff say about late starts at Roland Garros?

Coco Gauff came through her Roland Garros fourth round tie against Elisabetta Cocciaretto without too much problems, beating the 30th-ranked Italian in straight sets to book her place in this week’s quarter finals. The 20-year-old took just an hour to sweep Cocciaretto aside on Court Philippe Chatrier, winning 6-1, 6-2 and will now face Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in the last eight.

Afterwards, Coco was asked about her impeccable footwork technique by Eurosport expert Álex Corretja. “I’m lucky to be able to train on clay since I was 10, which is not common for most Americans but it’s something that I work on. I do like to slide - especially for some of those crazy drop shots and things, and sometimes I do surprise myself, she explained”.

Coco Gauff ready for Ons Jabeur rematch

A 17-year-old Gauff famously beat Ons Jabeur 6-3, 6-1 to book a place in the quarter finals at the 2021 French Open which adds an extra dose of intrigue into this week’s clash.

Gauff is currently the fourth favorite to win this year’s French Open women’s singles title +1200 to lift the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen for the first time in her career, behind Elena Rybakina (+950), Aryna Sabalenka (+470) and odds-on favorite Iga Swiatek (-200). Her quarter final clash with Jabeur is expected to be played on Tuesday 4 June 2024, and before that, she and Katerina Siniaková will be trying to get through their fourth round Women’s Doubles clash against Czech pair Miriam Kolodziejová and Anna Sisková on Monday, with an exact start time yet to be confirmed.

The start times at Roland Garros have been the subject of much discussion this weekend after Novak Djokovic’s Round 3 clash with Lorenzo Musetti in the Men’s Singles event finished at the ungodly hour of 3:08 a.m. Many of the games at Roland Garros start no earlier than 8:15 p.m. and some have started much later if tghe schedule overrruns. Djokovic-Musetti started after 10:37 p.m. but at least the Serbian could see the funny side of the late finish, which shattered the previous record (1:25 a.m.).

Late starts and French Open scheduling

Gauff however, believes that it’s too late to be playing tennis late at night - not only because it affects players’ welfare but everyone else involved - the public, employees, media, security...

“I definitely think finishing at 3 a.m. is... I feel like a lot of times people think you’re done, but really, 3 a.m... You have responsibilities dealing with the media, then you have to shower, eat, and then a lot of times people do treatments,” Gauff said. “So that’s probably not going to bed until 5 o’clock at the earliest, maybe 6 o’clock, and even 7 o’clock. I definitely think it’s not healthy. It may be not fair for those who have to play late because it does ruin your schedule. I’ve been lucky I haven’t been put in a super-late finish yet.”

She continued, “What can be done? I know on the tour side they’re thinking about putting matches can’t start after a certain time. I don’t know if it’s going to be a Grand Slam rule, but I think that’s something to look at. Maybe if a match is going long, possibly moving courts. Then I know it’s tough because, especially here, it’s only one night match, and people obviously paid for those tickets. It’s a complicated thing, but I definitely think for the health and safety of the players it would be in the sport’s best interest I think to try to avoid those matches finishing, or starting after a certain time. Obviously, you can’t control when they finish.

“Obviously I don’t want to complain too much about it because we are very blessed and privileged to be playing for a lot of money, and there’s people working real jobs under worse conditions for less money and just trying to get by. So it’s a balance between two things,” she concluded.