The women’s doubles finalists were not given a microphone to address the crowd.© Twitter
Organizers of the Madrid Open apologized on Thursday for not allowing women’s doubles finalists to deliver post-match speeches at the tournament last week, amid allegations of sexism. Men’s doubles finalists were allowed to speak to the crowd after their matches. Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia beat Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff in Sunday’s women’s final but were not given a microphone to address the crowd.
“We sincerely apologize to all the players and fans who expected more from the Mutua Madrid Open tournament,” Madrid Open CEO Gerard Tsobanian said in a statement on Twitter.
“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.”
Tsobanian said the tournament is working with the WTA to improve its process in the future.
“We made a mistake and it will never happen again,” he said.
American player Pegula criticized the tournament at a press conference in Rome on Tuesday.
“Did I think we wouldn’t be able to speak? No. I’ve never heard that in my life,” she said.
“I don’t know what century everyone was living in when they made that decision.”
Women’s singles finalist Inga Swiatek criticized the tournament for its late finish in her speech on Saturday, saying playing at 1am (2300GMT) was “not fun”.
Winner Aryna Sabalenka joked in her speech about the birthday cake she was given the day before, which was smaller than the one given to Carlos Alcaraz, the men’s champion at the tournament.
The Madrid Open also received complaints about the ball girl’s outfits, which some fans said were “sexualised”.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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