Jabeur Asks For 'Change Of Mentality' After Tickets Returned For Women's Night Match

Sunday, 04 June 2023 at 09:33

byBalasz Virag

There will be a night match on the Court Philippe-Chatrier, but fans reacted weirdly and Ons Jabeur responded to that.

It's been quite some time since fans demanded a women's singles match during the night session on the Court Philippe-Chatrier. After one week of men's matches, the Roland Garros tournament organizers have made the decision to put a WTA match into the slot.

It's a match between the second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus and Sloane Stephens from the United States, and even though it is an interesting match, the response from the fans was very weird and unexpected.

After the schedule was released, hundreds of tickets were returned, something that never happened before at this year's Roland Garros. After her hard-fought third-round win over Olga Danilovic, Ons Jabeur, who has been vocal about these issues, was asked about the situation.

"It is time to change that vision, because I find that people don't watch many female matches, and they just judge that it's gonna be a crappy match. But it's not the case. There are a lot of extraordinary matches."

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According to the Tunisian, women put the same effort into training as men do, and in her own experience, many people that don't want to watch women's matches, never in reality watched them.

"Women are training, making a lot of efforts, playing extraordinary matches. I met many people who say, Well, the female matches, blah, blah, blah, and I ask them, Did you watch a female match? They said no. How can you judge a female match without watching it?"

Therefore, Jabeur made a clear call. She asked fans to change their mentality and give women a chance, as they also make a lot of effort and can play very good matches.

"I hope that is going to change the mentality of giving a chance for these women who fight on a daily basis. Because honestly, we do a lot of efforts. We make a lot of sacrifices that men don't have to do on the tour."

Moreover, the two-time Grand Slam finalist from 2022 shared her desire for a full stadium for tomorrow's match as she called Sabalenka and Stephens 'two excellent and incredible players'.

"We must schedule everything in our professional life, and it is time to change that, to change that vision. I hope that the stadium will be full tomorrow, because there are two excellent and incredible players who will be playing and it's going to be an extraordinary match. So we have to give a chance to these women for all the female sports."