Madrid Open criticised by Ons Jabeur & Victoria Azarenka after women's doubles finalists denied on-court speech -'Sad'

Coco Gauff, Ons Jabeur and Victoria Azarenka are among the top tennis players to have criticised the Madrid Open after they were denied the chance to make a speech following Sunday’s women’s doubles final. Azarenka clinched the title with partner Beatriz Haddad Maia in the Spanish capital, beating top seeds Gauff and Jessica Pegula 6-1 6-4. Ad Neither the winners nor runners-up made a speech after the women’s doubles final, unlike in the equivalent men’s match, where Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov defeated Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden 6-3 3-6 10-3.

Roland-Garros women's doublesGauff chases French Open sweep as she makes doubles final alongside Pegula03/06/2022 AT 12:25 “Wasn’t given the chance to speak after the final today,” Gauff tweeted. “But thank you to the fans for supporting us and women’s tennis this week! Thanks Jessica Pegula for always keeping it fun on the court and hitting unreal clutch shots. Lastly, big congratulations Vika and Bia.” She added: “Thanks to my team and Jess’s team of course! Also for the ball kids, tournament staff, and everyone else who works hard behind the scenes.

Twitter format doesn’t allow me to say everything I would’ve said during the speech if we had one. But just wanted to say I’m thankful.” Pegula responded to Gauff’s tweet with a string of emojis: zipped lips, a thinking face and a woman shrugging. Azarenka also took to Twitter to express her disappointment at not being given a platform to share a few words with her son after clinching the 10th doubles title of her career.