French Open 2026: Aryna Sabalenka and Naomi Osaka ‘open door’ to women’s night session?

Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo, herself a former women’s world number one, has regularly hinted at the possibility of shorter doubles matches as a reason to ignore the women.

“The matches are always interesting for both men and women, but we have a lot of reasons to choose,” Mauresmo said on Monday.

“As you know, the length of the matches is what we’re looking at.”

“It was clear tonight had to be a race,” she added, picking Sabalenka against Osaka.

Although men’s world number one Jannik Sinner is still in contention, there was a school of thought that Mauresmo might look elsewhere.

Sinner was scheduled to play the same day, but without him Monday’s men’s matches lack star power.

If Sabalenka vs. Osaka isn’t light, then which women’s match might be preferred?

With that came a sense of anticipation.

If the match ended as a dud, critics could use it as a stick to beat the women’s game.

That, others argue, was caused by the French Open’s refusal to feature its female stars in the first place.

Was the burden on Sabalenka and Osaka to represent the women’s game?

“I really don’t care. There are so many different things to put pressure on myself – that was the last thing on my mind,” Osaka said.

“Trust us, shout out the competition – I hope it was fun for people.”