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The 2023 Madrid Open witnessed its latest round of controversy on Sunday, May 7, as the women's doubles finalists were prevented from making speeches at the presentation ceremony.
Top seeds Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula took on the unseeded pairing of Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia in the championship round. The latter duo came out on top in straight sets, winning 6-1, 6-4.
While it is the norm for both the runners-up and winners to make speeches after their respective trophies are handed over to them, that was not the case in Madrid. Instead, the ceremony ended as soon as the awards were handed over, leaving tennis fans on social media stumped.
It should be noted that this was not the protocol followed after the Madrid Open men's doubles final on Saturday. Winners Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov both addressed the audience after their win.
For a tournament that has already been called out for misogyny over the last fortnight, for its hiring of models as ball girls as well as the cake controversy involving Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz, this was not a good look. Many pointed that out on Twitter too.
"Wtf just happened? No speeches from either team at the women’s doubles final. Is this post-cakegate punishment? Madrid done lost its mind as a tournament," one fan wrote.
"The funny thing is, this will cause more harm to the tournament than any criticisms that the women may have given in their speeches would have. Bad move," another fan tweeted.
"That's my problem with cake-gate. It trivialized and reduced all issues about this tournament to the least important one of all. And gave López the chance to defend himself about the one little thing he could, instead of making him give answers to the important matters."
"And now the guy is pissed, didn't like what both finalists said yesterday, and decided to not let doubles players speak... Embarrassing," one user declared.
Here are a few more reactions from tennis fans:
Both Madrid Open women's singles finalists called out the tournament at the presentation ceremony
In the women's singles final on Saturday, Aryna Sabalenka beat Iga Swiatek 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to take home the 2023 Madrid Open title. At her victory speech afterwards, the Belarusian made a reference to the cake controversy, saying:
"I think [the victory] is all because of yesterday's cake. It was too good."
Runner-up Iga Swiatek also pointed out the discrepancies in scheduling. She stated that it was not "fun" for her to play past midnight during the WTA 1000 tournament.
"It's a beautiful city and it's a pleasure to play in front of you guys. It’s not fun to play at 1 am though, so I’m happy anyway that I was able to get past this experience and survive and be in the final [of the Madrid Open]," Swiatek said.
