“Sexism?” Coco Gauf SPARKS major controversy after expressing disappointment for being denied a chance to address the crowd after the Madrid Open final
The winners and runners-up lifted their trophies and simply vacated the court.
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Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff
Women tennis players are dealing with “sexism” at the 2023 Madrid Open? From the ‘cake’ controversy to tennis fans calling out the tournament for discrimination after spotting ball girls wearing ‘extra revealing’ clothes during men’s matches, to today’s ‘speech’ controversy, which will seem to become the talk of the town.
In the women’s doubles final of the Mutua Madrid Open, the pair of Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia upset top seeds Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula 6-1, 6-4 to clinch their first title together on Sunday (May 7). However, in an unusual incident, neither pair gave a speech or interview during the trophy presentation. The winners and runners-up lifted their trophies and simply vacated the court. This must have baffled both the teams but after the match Coco Gauff took to Twitter and seemed to have indirectly taken a dig at Madrid Open for their not giving chances to the women’s teams to speak.
“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! Thanks @JLPegula for always keeping it fun on the court and hitting unreal clutch shots hahahaha Lastly, big congratulations Vika and Bia,” Gauff tweeted.
Ons Jabeur reacted to the controversial post of Coco Gauff, stating that it’s “unfortunate”, “sad” and “unacceptable”.
This left the tennis fans flabbergasted as they did not expect such treatment from the tournament. Check their reactions below:
Victoria Azarenka took a dig at Madrid Open bosses over cake sizes
Notably, doubles winner Victoria Azarenka had previously tweeted about a picture comparing the difference in the size of the birthday cakes for Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka. She wrote: “Couldn’t be more accurate on the treatment.” She was called out by Madrid Open tournament director Feliciano Lopez after this who tweeted: “I’m surprised by this reaction after this gesture!”
Both Alcaraz and Sabalenka celebrated their birthdays on May 5th. While Alcaraz turned 20 on that day, the Belarusian celebrated her 25th birthday. However, the size of their cakes grabbed the eyeballs and angered many fans because Alcaraz’s cake was bigger than Sabalenka’s so fans started calling it pure misogyny.
After the doubles final, Azarenka also expressed her disappointment over not getting the chance to speak. She took to Twitter and wrote: “Hard to explain to Leo that mommy isn’t able to say hello to him at the trophy ceremony”.
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