Victoria Azarenka Says French Open Falls Short of Gender Equality Outside Prize Money

Belarusian tennis star Victoria Azarenka criticized the French Open for gender equality following her fourth-round loss at Roland Garros on Sunday.

Azarenka told reporters that while there are equal sums of prize money ($1.7 million) awarded to competitors on the men's and women's sides of the competition, the organizers fall short in other areas of the game. 

A two-time major winner and former world No. 1, Azarenka called the disaparities "disappointing" and said there was a need to "hold some people accountable." 

"I think there [are] enough examples over the years where we've heard remarks towards women, where we've seen two women's semifinal matches playing on the outside courts," she said. "I mean, you guys, if you follow tennis, you know what I'm talking about. I think there [are] no surprises that I can reveal here." 

In 2019, both men's semifinals matches were held on Roland Garros' center court, Court Philippe Chatrier, and neither women's semifinal match was scheduled there, per D'Arcy Maine of ESPN.

Azarenka's comments stemmed from a question about the inaugural night sessions at this year's tournament. There are seven matches being played at night, and just one featured women: a first-round tilt between Serena Williams and Irina-Camelia Begu. 

Guy Forget, the tournament director, said that could have changed in a potential fourth-round match between Ashleigh Barty and Coco Gauff, noting that was "the kind of match you potentially want to see on a night match." But that was stymied by Barty's withdrawal due to injury.

"So it is very hard to choose," he said. "Would people rather watch Roger Federer or at the moment, some of the ladies matches that are happening? It's a tough call to make. But I guess this is the path we took and we'll see how that goes next year."

Forget said there would be an open discussion regarding scheduling heading into next year's tournament.