Kareem Abdul-Jabbar blasted the 2025 French Open women's singles match schedule unfairly: it seems that the decision-makers do not have daughters

Tunisian women's tennis star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (30) has been strongly criticised for the French Open's tendency to make the men's match the main match "evening". Jabbar, who participated in the 2025 French Open held at Roland Garros in Paris, France, said through the Associated Press and other media on the 28th local time: "In Europe, women's sports, especially women's tennis, have been treated unfairly. It is shameful for the French Open to shy away from the women's competition. ”

Tunisian women's tennis star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

The French Open has introduced a night session from 2021, with the main matches scheduled in the night slots with high international ratings. Among them, most of the night matches were played in men's singles. Last year's 11 night matches were all men's, and so far this year five have been men's. The president of the French Tennis Federation (FFT), Gil Moreton, once explained on the subject: "I just made the best choice for the audience. "Because the men's singles are very popular, it was only arranged in the night session, and there were no other intentions.

Abdul-Jabbar criticized: "It's ironic not to show the women's game (mainly the men's game) and to say, 'The fans like the men's game'. Because everyone will watch more men's games, fans will only watch more men's games. ”

Jabeur, who greeted Magdalina Freiher in the first round of the 2025 French Open women's singles

Abdul-Jabbar added: "It seems that the decision-makers don't have daughters. If anything, would you treat your daughter like this? "The contract between FFT and Amazon Prime (the rights company) is humbling. Naomi Osaka (Japan) and Paula Badosa (Spain) had an unbelievably exciting first round in the Women's Singles. Earlier last year, the Women's Singles showdown was between Swiatek (Poland) and Naomi Osaka. ”

Abdul-Jabbar is a three-time Grand Slam women's singles runner-up at Wimbledon in 2022, Wimbledon 2023 and the US Open in 2022. At Wimbledon in 2022, she also made history by an Arab player reaching the singles final of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. Jabbar, who was once ranked No. 2 in the singles world in 2022, is currently ranked 36th. At the French Open, Jabbar lost to Magdalena Freige (Poland) in the first round of singles and was eliminated early.