A storm has erupted at the Madrid Open after all four players competing in the women’s doubles final were barred from speaking in the aftermath of the match on Sunday.
After days of controversy surrounding the tournament, trophies were handed out to the winning pairing of Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad-Maia as well as the runners-up Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula.
However, no speeches were made as is customary.
The finalists of the men’s doubles and both singles tournaments were all given the opportunity to speak after their respective matches.
The issue was quickly raised on social media by the four competing tennis stars, with Tunisia’s World No. 4 Ons Jabeur calling the incident “sad and unacceptable.”
Gauff was fuming about the incident, and shared part of the message she had prepared for her speech on Twitter.
“Wasn’t given the chance to speak after the final today,” Gauff wrote. “But thank you to the fans for supporting us and women’s tennis this week! Thanks (Jessica Pegula) for always keeping it fun on the court and hitting unreal clutch shots hahahaha Lastly, big congratulations Vika and Bia.
“Also thanks to my team and Jess’s team of course! Also for the ball kids, tournament staff, and everyone else who works hard behind the scenes. Twitter format doesn’t allow me to say everything I would’ve said during the speech if we had one. But just wanted to say I’m thankful.”
While tournament organizers have given no indication as to why the four female stars were muzzled, the incident does come after days of controversy surrounding the tournament including a debate over a discrepancy in the size of the cakes handed out to male and female winners and outrage surrounding the tournament’s decision to employ models in place of ball kids for some matches.
Moreover, World No. 1 Iga Swiatek seemingly enraged tournament director Feliciano Lopez after being defeated in the Madrid Open final on Saturday by Aryna Sabalenka.
Australian great Rennae Stubbs was furious over the decision to silence the stars of the game and took aim at organizers in a scathing post.
“So for a tournament to deny players a speech after they win a WTA 1000 is a DISGRACE!! I hope the WTA never allow this to happen again. What was the reason Madrid Open and WTA?” Stubbs wrote.
American World No. 3 Pegula retweeted Gauff’s message alongside a zipped mouth emoji, while Belarusian World No. 16 Azarenka wrote that it would be hard to explain to her son “that mommy isn’t able to say hello to him at the trophy ceremony.”
After a two-and-a-half-hour late-night marathon, Swiatek stole the limelight as she delivered a clip to tournament organizers during her runners-up speech.
The 21-year-old hit out at the Madrid Open scheduling that saw her finish multiple matches after midnight in the lead up to the final.
“It’s not fun to play at 1 am though,” Swiatek said. “I’m happy anyway I was able to get past this experience and survive and be in the final.”
The remarks didn’t sit well with Lopez, who looked supremely unhappy about the criticism while standing behind Swiatek at the trophy presentation.
The Madrid Open were criticized last week due to a discrepancy in the size of the cakes handed out to the male and female singles winners.
Belarus-born Sabalenka, 25, was given a single-tier cake after defeating Swiatek, while Spanish star Alcaraz, 20, was given a multi-tier cake that had to be held up by several people for the photo opportunity.
Canadian World No. 27 Bianca Andreescu couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“That doesn’t look right,” she wrote.
Some fans were left fuming over the optics of both winners being presented cakes of vastly different sizes, however others said their was no issue as they pointed out Alcaraz was playing in his home country as the hometown hero.
Tournament director Feliciano Lopez hit back at the criticism as he responded to the criticism.
“I’m surprised by this reaction after this gesture! 1. Carlos had just won his match to reach the final. 2. He was playing on centre court. 3. The tournament is played in Spain, even though it is an international event. PS: I hope Rune wasn’t also upset by his treatment,” he wrote.
Others were quick to point out that rising star Holger Rune was given a cake after celebrating his birthday during the tournament, similar to the one given to Sabalenka.