Tournament officials at the Madrid Open are under fire for banning the women’s double champions and women’s double runner-ups from speaking to the crowd following the conclusion of their match on Sunday. Why were the women not allowed to speak and is this a larger issue in the sport?
The winning duo Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad-Maia and runners-up Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula were banned from giving a speech after receiving their trophies on Sunday.
A strange move by the tournament considering the four participants in the men’s doubles final were allowed to address the crowd after their match. That is customary in the sport.
The Madrid Open is a Masters 1000 event on the men’s side (ATP) and a Premiere Mandatory event on the women’s side (WTA). In other words the tournaments with these designations are the biggest on tour outside of the four Grand Slam events.
Not allowing the champions and runner-ups to speak is a bad look. It’s even worse, given that these women were the only ones not allowed to speak.
Some incidents that have gone on during the tournament might shed some light as to why there is an issue.
Women’s world No. 2 and the current champion at the event Aryna Sabalenka celebrated her birthday on Friday, May 5, and the tournament presented her with a cake. Not uncommon.
Men’s world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz the current champion, a Spaniard, also celebrated his birthday on Friday, May 5. But the tournament presented him with a cake on center court after his semifinal match win that day.
The two cakes were noticeably different in size, Alcaraz’s was bigger.
Azarenka, an outspoken player who has been at the forefront of this generation’s women players seeking equality, tweeted about the cake size.
Are Officials At Madrid Sexist?
The Madrid Open has been under fire for its use of female models in lieu of ball girls and ball boys. A move many in tennis have called sexist. The women’s players have also gotten the short end of the scheduling stick, forced to play matches at ridiculous hours due to the length of some of the men’s matches.
More than a few tennis media members have speculated that the Madrid Open was afraid of Azarenka calling them out during her winner’s speech so they stopped all four women from speaking.
Tournament director Feliciano Lopez shrugged off the Azarenka complaint about the cake size, showing Holger Rune’s cake. Rune also celebrated a birthday during the tournament and it was the same size as Sabalenka’s.
Madrid Open Does Appear To Be Pro Spanish
However Lopez did not address why the women were not allowed to speak, though his tweet response to Azarenka did provide some insight on the tournament’s overall treatment of Spaniards.
Madrid is the capital of Spain and as a Spaniard it appears that the tournament officials feel a sense of pride in one of their own.
“The tournament is played in Spain, even though it is an international event,” Lopez tweeted. Suggesting that as a reason for Alcaraz’s bigger cake.
Earlier in the tournament former tennis player Daniela Hantuchova, who is now an analyst, noted some special treatment Alcaraz received in terms of on-court play.
Before the final between Alcaraz and Jan-Lennard Struff on Sunday, Hantuchova noted the grounds crew watering the clay court twice.
“One thing, guys, I do want to point out, the groundspeople have watered the court twice since we’ve been talking,” Hantuchova said during the pre-match talk on Prime. “So I feel they’re trying to make the court as slow as possible, so it’s easier for Carlos to return that serve.”
“But that doesn’t happen. That was the first time this week that I noticed that he’s already covered at least this side twice with the water.
“Especially on clay, that’s what we were kind of always expecting when you play a Spanish player here or in Italy when you play someone from Italy.”
Alcaraz is 22-0 on Spanish clay in his career, winning Madrid and Barcelona in 2022 and repeating as champion in Madrid on Sunday.
