Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff, Beatriz Haddad Maia and Victoria Azarenka were not allowed to address the crowd after the women's doubles final at the Madrid Open on Sunday. Photo: Oscar J. Barroso/Europa Press via Getty Images
Two birthday cakes, a botched trophy ceremony and models posing as ball girls sum up a tawdry week in tennis. As ridiculous as it all sounds, they sparked a sexism scandal by highlighting serious issues that need to be covered in sports.
Over the past week, the Mutua Madrid Open has been a lesson in shortsightedness and PR failure. It all started with the fact that the organizers of the tournament gave the birthday girl Arina Sobolenko a cake four times smaller than the one that was presented to the birthday boy Carlos Alcaraz, which prompted the former world number one Victoria Azarenka to call them.
Then, instead of ball girls, model girls appeared on the court, like the resurrection of extinct Formula 1 grid girls that no one asked for.
In some matches, the models replaced the girls with the ball, but the organizers do not explain their decision. Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
The week ended with doubles champion Azarenka not being allowed to give the winner's speech with her partner, Beatrice Haddad Maia. As small or unimportant as these moments may have seemed on their own, they could have spurred the women on tour to their irritated wit.» end.
There is a certain irony in the fact that the organizers of the Madrid Open, by not providing a microphone to the top group of tennis players, gave them every incentive to speak their mind. It also showed gross naivety on the part of the organizers, including tournament director and former MVP Feliciano López, in not expecting any of the players to start the game, especially given that two of the women's doubles finalists are active. participants. WTA Players Council.
American Jessica Pegula is one of them, and less than 48 hours after she and Coco Gauff, her doubles partner, were denied the opportunity to give her usual runner-up speech, she couldn't take any punches in her pre-tournament press conference in Rome. «Even in the $10,000 final, you would have performed,» Pegula said on Tuesday. "I don't know what century everyone lived in when they made this decision or talked and decided, like: 'Wow, this is a great decision, and be without feedback'."
It is understood that the WTA representatives were only informed of the decision to block the players from using the microphone in the middle of the doubles final, without being able to tell them about it. Their embarrassment was evident when Gauff, Pegula, Azarenka and Haddad Maya conferred and exchanged embarrassed faces on stage. They smiled and held their trophies in front of the assembled photographers, but the microphone was not visible, and after that they took to social media to thank their teams, fans and sponsors for their support.
Post-final speeches usually do not cause enthusiasm, but there was a suspicion that Azarenka could well use the opportunity to throw off some things. The order to close the women's doubles final came after a speech by Iga Swiatek on Saturday in which she complained about the 1am schedule of her previous tours and followed Azarenka's outspoken criticism of the organizers on Twitter after the 'cake gate'. It can be assumed that Lopez and company didn't want to give her another chance to land another legitimate hit on live TV.
The doubles finalists were likely silenced because Igia Swiatek criticized the organizers for scheduling her semi-finals at 1 am after losing the singles final. Photo: THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images
Madrid Open organizers declined to comment on the episode — another negative for the tournament — which followed online backlash over a decision to have female models stand in for ball-carrying children during certain prime-time matches. It was a particularly outdated move on the part of the hackneyed organizers, who once again failed to read the room or even do a quick Google search to see how it might get in. Just six years ago, a similar controversy erupted during the draw for the ATP Next Gen final in Milan (for male players aged 18-21), in which players chose their favorite female model on the podium to determine tournament groups. This was widely criticized, including by Judy Murray, and the ATP later issued an apology.
The truth is that these examples of injustice are not unique to Madrid. For a sport meant to be a leader on the gender equality front, tennis finds a way to snub its female stars at regular intervals over a long season.
Schedule is one of the recurring examples. Last season, the French Open caused heat after only one of its 10 night sessions featured a women's match, with Billie Jean King saying that female players were treated like «second-class citizens.»
At the Madrid Open in 2022, the women's final was sandwiched between two men's semi-finals, as if it were a long promotional break between two feature films. The women's finalists were forced to anxiously wait backstage for the 3-hour, 35-minute epic between Novak Djokovic and Alcaraz to culminate, and took to the court while most of the crowd rose from their seats for a bite to eat. "Honestly, it seemed to me that women's matches at this tournament were not given much importance" eventual champion Ons Jaber told Telegraph Sport after her win. "I would like them to admit this mistake and respect us even more"
It could be argued that all tournaments are guilty of scheduling bias, like (in the joint men's competition). and women's competitions) the men's final is always scheduled as the last singles match of the tournament. Despite equal prize money at the Grand Slam tournaments, none of them have departed from this common but equally unfair tradition. This sends a clear message that men are considered the main event; women serve as a prequel.
Speaking of prize money, equality remains a dream in tennis. While there is a common misconception among more casual fans that tennis offers equal pay across the board, this is not as common outside of the four major tournaments. Madrid ironically offers an even prize pool, but a Financial Times report from last July found that (excluding major tournaments) in the first half of the 2022 season, the total prize pool for the men's tour was 75% higher than the previous one. . women.
Lazy naysayers will blame the fact that tennis has too many tour factions, or lack of sponsorship, lack of interest, or any number of problems, as contributing factors. Even if all of this were true, there must be a desire to strive for equal treatment and opportunity.
Madrid Open gaffes last week weren't just about cake or a two-minute speech. . They exposed the disrespect for women's tennis from those who can share an equal piece of the pie.
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