Victoria Azarenka leads criticism of Madrid Open Credit: Getty Images/Alex Pantling
Former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka made an appeal that she and her female colleagues received at the Madrid Open was «unacceptable» after another day of backlash in the ongoing sexism controversy.
After four days of criticism on Thursday, the Madrid Open finally apologized for last weekend's PR disaster. in which the women's doubles finalists were taken off the stage without the traditional speeches and promised that "it would never happen again"
Speaking from Rome on Thursday, Azarenka, who won the doubles tournament in Madrid with partner Beatriz Haddad Maia and is an active member of the WTA players committee, accepted the apology but was still annoyed by the episode.< /p>
“What happened in terms of doubles was totally unacceptable,” Azarenka told The Guardian after her second-round win over Sloane Stevens at the Italian Open. “Obviously there is a lot of talk inside about what happened and I want to see how it will develop and what are the consequences of these decisions. So I don't want to make too many comments. I think people should be given the opportunity to figure out how best to proceed. Do I find this unacceptable? This is absolutely unacceptable.”
Her comments came when Australian John Millman became the first male player to publicly denounce the tournament for failing to show “proper respect” to women.
«Internal work on revisiting protocols… It's pretty simple,» the former top 50 player tweeted, referring to a Madrid Open statement. “Show proper respect. It's the least they [female players] deserve.»
Silencing the doubles finalists was the final straw in a tournament that has been criticized for being sexist on many levels. There have been controversies over revealing outfits worn by female models, inconsistencies in the size of the respective birthday cakes given to the men's and women's champions, and a schedule that pushed world No. 1 Iga Swiatek to the early hours of Saturday morning. .
Jessica Pegula (center) and Coco Gauff (left), who lost in the women's doubles final, were not given the opportunity to perform in front of the audience. Photo: Getty Images/Clive Brunskill
Thursday morning, the tournament released a statement from its executive director, Gerard Tsobanian. «We sincerely apologize to all the players and fans who expect more from the Mutua Madrid Open.» Tsobanyan said.
«It was unacceptable not to give our women's doubles finalists the opportunity to address their fans at the end of the match.» he added, “and we apologized directly to Victoria [Azarenka], Beatrice [Haddad Maya], Coco [Gauff] and Jessica [Pegula]. We are working internally and with the WTA to review our protocols and look to improve our process going forward. We made a mistake and it will never happen again."
This doesn't look right https://t.co/ySiXWiqdNa
— Bianca (@Bandreescu_) May 5, 2023
On Thursday, Azarenka confirmed that she had not yet received a personal apology from Tsobanyan and added that if given the opportunity, she would not use her victory speech to express dissatisfaction with the tournament.
— How many years have you known me? For a long time. Have you really seen me raise issues in the press? Like complaining about something,” she said. “I ask this because I want it to reflect my character; that I prefer to deal with questions, comments or feedback in person, and I have done so throughout my career. Sometimes you can't hear it, it doesn't work.
“I want to give people the opportunity to do things right. But I believe there should be answers to why such decisions were made and by whom.”
TThe WTA has already indicated that they will investigate the events at Caja Magica during the tournament, which has been held by the super agency IMG for the last two years. The Madrid Open lasted two weeks for the first time this year, but the stretched tournament was overshadowed by controversy over its gender policies.
Loss doubles finalist Pegula addressed the issue of silence on Tuesday: “Did I think we weren't going to talk? No. I've never heard of such a thing in my life. Even in the $10,000 Challenger final, you'd be talking. I don't know what century everyone was living in when they made that decision or how they actually talked and decided, «Wow, that's a great decision that we're going to make and there's not going to be any backlash against it.» '”
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