World No.4 Ons Jabeur has slammed the “sad and unacceptable” decision to ban the customary speeches after the women’s doubles final of the Madrid Open.
At the end of the match, which saw Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad-Maia defeat Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula 6-1, 6-4, both pairs were presented their trophies but not given the opportunity to speak.
The finalists of the men’s doubles match, as well as both singles events, were given speeches.
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Australian great Rennae Stubbs said the decision was “a disgrace”.
“I hope the WTA never allow this to happen again,” she said on Twitter.
While event organisers didn’t give a reason for not allowing speeches, senior tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg suggested scheduling criticisms made by Iga Swiatek in her speech after her loss in the women’s singles final might have been a factor.
After her loss to Aryna Sabalenka, Swiatek took a swipe at organisers after playing in several matches that ended well after midnight.
“It’s not fun to play at 1am though,” Swiatek said, with tournament director Feliciano Lopez looking clearly unhappy behind her.
“I’m happy anyway I was able to get past this experience and survive and be in the final.”
Organisers also faced criticism for the enormous discrepancy between the size of two cakes presented to Carlos Alvarez and Sabalenka, who celebrated their birthdays on the same day earlier in the tournament.
While Alvarez was presented with a multi-tiered monstrosity that needed multiple people to carry it, Sabalenka’s was a much smaller single-tiered cake.
The tournament also faced fresh criticisms for its use of models – both male and female – in lieu of ballkids in more high-profile matches in the tournament.
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