Madrid Open criticised by Ons Jabeur & Victoria Azarenka after women's doubles finalists denied on-court speech -'Sad'

Updated 09/05/2023 at 11:09 GMT

Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia triumphed in the Madrid Open women's doubles final over Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, but the players weren't given the chance to make a speech. Gauff, Azarenka and world No. 7 Ons Jabeur were among those to criticise the tournament. It came after Iga Swiatek's comments and a cake controversy sparked debate about the treatment of female players.

MADRID, SPAIN - MAY 07: Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil pose while holding their trophy's after winning the Woman's Doubles Final match defeating Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula of United States on Day Fourteen of the Mutua Madrid Open a

Image credit: Getty Images

Coco Gauff, Ons Jabeur and Victoria Azarenka are among the top tennis players to have criticised the Madrid Open after the doubles finalists were denied the chance to make a speech following Sunday’s women’s final.

Azarenka clinched the title with partner Beatriz Haddad Maia in the Spanish capital, beating top seeds Gauff and Jessica Pegula 6-1 6-4.

Neither the winners nor runners-up made a speech after the women’s doubles final, unlike in the equivalent men’s match, where Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov defeated Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden 6-3 3-6 10-3.

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“Wasn’t given the chance to speak after the final today,” Gauff tweeted.

“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. Lastly, big congratulations Vika and Bia.”

She added: “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.”

Pegula responded to Gauff’s tweet with a string of emojis: zipped lips, a thinking face and a woman shrugging.

Azarenka also took to Twitter to express her disappointment at not being given a platform to share a few words with her son after clinching the 10th doubles title of her career.

“Hard to explain to Leo that mommy isn’t able to say hello to him at the trophy ceremony,” she wrote.

World No. 7 Ons Jabeur also spoke out on social media in support of her fellow players.

“So unfortunate that you were not given a chance to address the crowd and your opponents. This is sad and unacceptable,” the Tunisian wrote.

The incident capped a week that had already seen its fair share of incidents surrounding treatment of female players.

A debate erupted when Carlos Alcaraz was presented with a giant tennis ball cake to mark his 20th birthday, shortly after eventual women’s singles champion Aryna Sabalenka had received a much smaller cake on her birthday.

When a Twitter user pointed out the ‘astounding’ difference in cake size, Azarenka responded by saying: “Couldn’t be more accurate on the treatment.”

Tournament director Feliciano Lopez came to the defence of the cake choices. He also pointed out that Holger Rune got a similar cake to Sabalenka to celebrate his birthday the previous week.

“I’m surprised by this reaction after this gesture,” Lopez said on Twitter.

“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.”

Sabalenka seemed to make light of the situation after winning the tournament.

"I think it's all because of yesterday's cake, it was too good,” she said with a laugh while standing next to Lopez at the trophy presentation ceremony.

Sabalenka defeated Swiatek to win the women’s singles title on Saturday, but afterwards the defeated world No. 1 took the opportunity to criticise the scheduling in front of tournament director Feliciano Lopez.

“It’s not fun to play at 1am though,” she said. “I’m happy anyway I was able to get past this experience and survive and be in the final.”

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