World No.3 Jessica Pegula has added her voice to those denouncing the organisers of the Madrid Open after a decision was made to ban the customary speeches after the women’s doubles final.
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.
In a bizarre twist, the finalists of the men’s doubles match, as well as both singles events, were allowed to give speeches after their matches.
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In response, Pegula was scathing of the choice to silence the women.
“I don’t know what century everyone was living in when they made that decision,” she said.
”Or how they had a conversation and decided, ‘Wow, this is a great decision and there’s going to be no-backlash against this’.
“I’ve never heard in my life we wouldn’t be able to speak. It was really disappointing. In a $10,000 final you would speak.
“It spoke for itself. We were upset when it happened and told during the trophy ceremony we weren’t able to speak. It kind of proved a point.”
Pegula’s doubles partner Gauff took to Twitter to voice her frustrations.
“Twitter format doesn’t allow me to say everything I would’ve said during the speech if we had one,” she wrote.
While winner Azarenka said the situation was “hard to explain” to her six-year-old son Leo when she was unable to address him in her victory speech.
Event organisers are yet to give a reason for cutting the speeches.
The tournament also faced heavy criticism for its use of models – both male and female – in lieu of ballkids in more high-profile matches.
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