The chief executive of the Madrid Open has admitted that his tournament’s decision to prevent all four women’s doubles finalists from talking during the trophy presentation was ‘unacceptable.’
Organizers of the event in Madrid were heavily criticized over their management of the final which saw Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia beat Americans Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff 6-1 6-4 on Sunday. To the surprise of many, all four players were not allowed to speak during the trophy ceremony. Something which was allowed in the finals of both singles events, as well as the men’s doubles tournament this year.
Afterwards, the event was blasted by players for seemingly silencing female players. Earlier this week in Rome, Pegula told reporters that she “had a feeling something would happen” following tension behind the scenes. Although she was still surprised.
“Did I think we were not going to be able to speak? No. I’ve never heard of that, like, in my life,” Pegula said. “Even in a $10K challenger final you would speak. I don’t know what century everyone was living in when they made that decision or how they actually had a conversation and decided: ‘Wow, this is a great decision we’re going to do and there’s going to be no backlash against this.’”
Meanwhile, Gauff said the motion of trying to silence players was a dangerous precedent and tournaments should be able to handle criticism. World No.7 Ons Jabeur described the move as ‘unacceptable’ and Victoria Azarenka voiced her frustration on social media.
The Madrid Open had been reluctant to comment on the situation after refusing requests from multiple news outlets. However, they broke their silence on Wednesday with tournament chief executive Gerard Tsobanian issuing a statement confirming that an apology has been issued to all of those involved.
“Not giving our women’s doubles finalists the chance to address their fans at the end of the match was unacceptable and we have apologized directly to Victoria, Beatriz, Coco and Jessica,” he said.
“We are working internally and with the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) to review our protocols and are committed to improving our process moving forward. We made a mistake and this will not ever happen again.”
This year’s Madrid Open has been marred by allegations of sexism. Besides the women’s doubles incident, some criticized the uniform ball girls wore which was crop tops and short skirts. The skirts were replaced by three-quarter-length trousers for the finals.
“It’s a feminized way of treating girls versus guys who don’t dress like that,” Pilar Calvo, spokesperson for The Association for Women in Professional Sports, told Spanish outlet Público.
“In the end, it is a form of sexist violence that is so widespread because people don’t even notice it.”
Some also used the comparisons of the birthday cakes Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz received during the tournament as a symbol of how the different genders are treated. Alcaraz, who is Spanish and the reigning US Open champion, received a significantly bigger cake. Tournament director Feliciano Lopez later commented that he was ‘surprised’ by the criticism before arguing that Alcaraz had just reached the final and he was the home favourite.
The Madrid Open is the most prestigious tennis tournament held in Spain and is classed as an ATP 1000 event for men and as a WTA 1000 for women. It is part of IMG’s sports portfolio. Neither IMG nor the WTA have commented on this matter.
