Jessica Pegula launches attack on Madrid Open after being denied the chance to speak, questions ‘what century everyone is living in’
Jessica Pegula criticises the organisers in Madrid for not providing the chance to address the crowd at the Women's Doubles final.
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Jessica Pegula( Credits: MSN)
Jessica Pegula openly criticized the Madrid Open for denying her the chance to speak at the trophy ceremony. She called their decision ‘outdated’ and justified the ongoing backlash against the organizers.
The American duo Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula were outperformed in the Madrid final by Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia. As the trophy ceremony took its course, the finalists were ‘unusually’ denied the opportunity to address the crowd. The ‘unexpected’ decision left the players bewildered on the stage. They expressed their frustration over the last-minute change to cut off their speeches. On the other hand, the men’s doubles players fairly presented their speeches at the ceremony.
“It was kind of awkward. Nobody really knew what to do. We got our trophies. Vika and Bea got theirs. The guy was like, Now you up on the podium and take one together”, she spoke at the pre-tournament press conference in Italy. World No.3 pointed out how there were no microphones on the stage as they were quickly done with the ceremony.
“Then Vika [Azarenka] turned to us and said, ‘”There’s no speeches.’ We were like: ‘What?’ She was like: ‘We’re not allowed to talk.’ We realised there were no microphones set up, there’s nothing. It was very rushed“, she said.
The fellow finalists, Coco Gauff and Victoria Azarenka took to Twitter to express their gratitude to their fans, team, and family. It was projected as a response to the ‘unfair treatment’ directed towards the WTA players.
This year’s Madrid Open has been a center of controversies. The organizers were ridiculed for their ‘preferential treatment’ when Sabalenka received a smaller cake than her birthday twin Carlos Alcaraz. Later, Iga Swiatek also called out the organizers for their ‘poor scheduling’ of the event.
Jessica Pegula expecting to claim her maiden Grand Slam in Roland Garros
Jessica Pegula delivered an outstanding performance during the last year’s French Open. While being quite consistent with her game and rankings, the American is expected for a potential title claim in Paris.
At the Roland Garros last year, the World No.3 reached the slam’s quarter-finals for the first time. But her run was cut short by the ‘versatile’ game of Iga Swiatek. She also partnered with compatriot Coco Gauff to book their place in the women’s doubles final. But the perfect duo was defeated by the French players, Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic.
With the French Open quite near, Pegula aims to outperform herself and advance past the quarter-finals. She cited Iga Swiatek as the biggest hurdle on the clay surface.
“Of course. I would love to go further than I did last year. I think that’s going to be very tough. Last year also played Iga, who I think is probably the toughest person to be there on that surface at that tournament. So it would be nice to not play her in the quarter-finals”, she said during her interview with Roland Garros.
The Guadalajara champion also expressed faith in her ‘aggressive’ game style and aims to take risks while playing tough points.
“I think keep being aggressive. For me serve and return are really important too. So I think as long as I can focus on those I usually play pretty well. When I get to those bigger moments, I think just being comfortable being there now and maybe taking some more risks and having a little bit more belief”, she further added.
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Vitasta Singh
(691 Articles Published)