Madrid Open organisers apologise to women’s doubles finalists who were not allowed speeches – ‘We made a mistake’

The Madrid Open organisers have apologised for a controversial tournament where there were no speeches made after the women’s doubles final won by Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia on Sunday.

Four days after the tournament concluded, chief executive Gerard Tsobanian wrote on Twitter: “We sincerely apologise to all the players and fans who expect more of the Mutua Madrid Open tournament.

“Not giving our women’s doubles finalists the chance to address their fans at the end of the match was unacceptable and we have apologised directly to Victoria, Beatriz, Coco [Gauff] and Jessica [Pegula].

“We are working internally and with the WTA to review our protocols and are committed to improving our process moving forward.

“We made a mistake and this will not ever happen again.”

In the men’s doubles final a day earlier, which was won by Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov, both doubles teams made speeches.

Doubles pair Gauff and Pegula expressed their frustration towards the tournament organisers after their defeat to Azarenka and Haddad Maia in the final.

“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 ahead of the Italian Open this week.

“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’.”

Gauff tweeted on Sunday: “Wasn’t given the chance to speak after the final today. But thank you to the fans for supporting us and women’s tennis this week!”

Last year’s Madrid Open winner Ons Jabeur called it “sad and unacceptable”, while former Grand Slam doubles champion Rennae Stubbs labelled the incident a “disgrace”.

The Madrid Open has also been criticised for employing models as ball girls and were slammed for dressing them on the main court in crop tops and short skirts.

The organisers faced more criticism from two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka for giving Carlos Alcaraz a much larger cake on his birthday than they did to world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, who both share the same birthday on May 5.

She wrote on Twitter: “Couldn’t be more accurate on the treatment.”

The Madrid Open pays equal prize money to men and women, and tournament director Feliciano Lopez came to the defence of the cake choices.

“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.”

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