Cake-gate and 'unacceptable' lack of speeches after women's doubles final: Madrid Open controversy explained

The final weekend of the 2023 Madrid Open should have been all about celebrating champions Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka. Instead the significance of their victories was mixed in with moments of controversy. Firstly over the respective sizes of the birthday cakes given to Alcaraz and Sabalenka, and then to the “sad and unacceptable” lack of speeches after the women’s doubles final.

Ad We break down everything that happened over the last few days of the tournament and what was said by the players... ATP MadridAlcaraz withstands Struff fightback to secure back-to-back titles in Madrid16 HOURS AGO ‘I’m surprised by this reaction’ Alcaraz and Sabalenka were both born on May 5, so were both celebrating turning a year older while they were still playing at the Madrid Open. To mark the occasion the tournament presented both players with birthday cakes.

Alcaraz got his cake after beating Borna Coric to reach the final, while Sabalenka received her cake on a day off as she prepared for the final. Sabalenka defeats Swiatek with huge performance in Madrid Open final ‘The one Grand Slam I hope to win one day’ — Parry on her future hopes Alcaraz was presented on court with a huge two-tier cake with sparklers on the tray around it and a tennis ball and a '20' on top. By contrast, Sabalenka got a standard-looking size birthday cake with some sparklers and candles, and ‘Happy Birthday Aryna’ written on the top.

“That doesn’t look right,” tweeted former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu in response to a comparison picture of the two cakes. “Couldn’t be more accurate on the treatment,” added former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka.