Scandal in Madrid! Tennis tournament organizers accused of sexism

On Sunday, May 7, the final match in pairs of the clay tournament of the WTA 1000 series was held in Madrid (Spain).

In the cup duel, the tandems of Coco Gauff / Jessica Pegula and Victoria Azarenka / Beatriz Haddad Maya came together. The fight ended in favor of Azarenka and Haddad Maya with a score of 6:1, 6:4.

After the meeting was over, something strange happened. Madrid Open Organizers deprived champions and finalists of traditional speech at the awards ceremony. Interestingly, such an opportunity was provided for men.

“I wasn’t given the opportunity to perform after the final today,” Gauff wrote on Twitter.

Pegula also did not leave unattended:

“I don’t know what century everyone lived in when they took this decision. Or how did they talk and decide? “Wow, this is a great decision and there will be no backlash against it.” So what? I never thought we’d be allowed to speak. It disappointed me a lot.”

World number 7 and last year’s tournament winner Ons Jabeur described the situation as “sad and unacceptable”, while former Grand Slam doubles champion Renne Stubbs succinctly called it “embarrassing”.

The organizers of the super tournament in Madrid had to apologize:

“We sincerely apologize to all the players and fans who expected more from the Mutua Madrid Open. It was unacceptable that our women’s doubles finalists weren’t given the chance to address their fans at the end of the match, and we apologized directly to Victoria, Beatrice, Coco and Jessica. We are working internally and with the WTA to review our protocols and improve our going forward process. We made a mistake and it will never happen again.”

But that’s not all. During the tournament, the ball collectors in the Madrid central court, who became the girls in this tournament, wore short tops and short skirts. Criticism soon followed, and the organizers reacted to the Sunday finals and the weirdest. They gave the girls short tops, but the skirts were replaced by long shorts.

“Girls are treated more feminine than guys who don’t dress like that,” said Pilar Calvo, spokesperson for the Professional Women’s Sports Association.

There was also another strange case in Madrid. On May 5, the world’s second rackets and future champions of the tournament Carlos Alcaras and Arina Sobolenko celebrated their birthdays. As a result, the Spaniard received a large cake as a gift, and Sobolenko had to be content with a 10 times smaller version of the cake.

Victoria Azarenka, a member of the WTA Players Council, posted the relevant photos on her Twitter account.