Tennis
There’s a big scandal in tennis over cake. The organizers had to make excuses to Arina
Many well-known colleagues have already stood up for Sobolenko.
The day before, two tennis stars celebrated their birthdays at once. Belarusian athlete Arina Sobolenko turned 25, and young Spanish talent Carlos Alcaras celebrated her 20th birthday.
These days, athletes are performing at a major tournament in Madrid. The organizers of the competition decided to congratulate Arina and Carlos with culinary gifts.
But a great idea turned into a scandal due to a terrible implementation.
Champions are congratulated in different ways
Belarusian athlete Arina Sobolenko is now in second place in the ranking of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). Alcaraz also comes second among men. At the tournament in Madrid, athletes participate in the status of favorites and have already reached the finals.
On May 5, when tennis players celebrated their birthdays, the tournament management congratulated the players. Arina was presented with a cute cake in a relaxed atmosphere. On a white single-tiered culinary product, it was written in gold letters in English: “Happy birthday, Arina.” Surrounded by all this fresh raspberries.
However, Alcaraz was congratulated with much more fanfare. It happened right on the center court after the Spaniard’s brilliant victory over Borna Coric, in the presence of fans. Carlos was also given a cake, but it was just huge. Perhaps it would be enough to feed all the tennis players in the tournament. And on the top tier of this masterpiece, there is also an edible tennis ball, to which the organizers attached the number “20”.
“It doesn’t look good”
Such a difference in congratulations immediately led to a big scandal. Canadian Bianca Andreescu shared photos of both cakes with the audience and hinted at the different treatment of women and men in tennis.
“It doesn’t look very good,” the athlete wrote on social networks.
Supported by a colleague and Victoria Azarenka – Sobolenko’s compatriot. The well-known athletes were joined by numerous fans who flooded the tournament accounts with negative comments.
Madrid competition director Feliciano Lopez tried to salvage the situation. The former tennis player posted several points on social networks that, in his opinion, should have calmed angry critics.
— 1. Carlos has just won the match and reached the final. 2. He played center court. 3. The tournament is held in Spain, despite the fact that this is an international event, the functionary wrote.
He also posted a photo where Danish tennis player Holger Rune receives a modest birthday cake from the organizers. But it irritated the audience even more. Some reminded Lopez that Sobolenko is no less a star tennis player than Alcaraz. She won the Madrid tournament in 2021 and does not deserve such treatment.
Source: Sportbox
I am a sports journalist who has written for a number of Sportish. I have a background in journalism and have been writing since I was young. My main focus is sports news, but I also write about general news. I am currently working as an author at Sportish.