It’s absolutely insane when u think back how Madrid didn’t allow the women doubles finalist to speak after their match like Feliciano didn’t get enough lashings for that & pretty match no consequences for anybody…
Madrid Open continues with controversy as Ellen Perez accuses Feliciano Lopez of not allowing doubles players to practice
WTATuesday, 23 April 2024 at 17:30
Talk about the ghosts of Christmas past, but the ghosts of Madrid Open past seem to be haunting the tournament with past mistakes seemingly not rectified as Feliciano Lopez who is tournament director not allowing doubles players to practice as per prominent player, Ellen Perez.
A year on from multiple storms in which cake gate occurred which saw Aryna Sabalenka given a smaller cake to Carlos Alcaraz. Victoria Azarenka decided to respond to this with a scathing criticism which then came back to bite her unintentionally in the doubles final. World No.1, Iga Swiatek shared her displeasure about the scheduling of the matches including a comment in her post final speech in a dig towards Lopez.
She had to periodically play past midnight during most days, while men's matches took place earlier in the day. After her outburst on social media, Azarenka alongside Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Beatriz Haddad Maia were seemingly silenced by not being allowed to speak after their women's doubles final. Cries of misogyny were thrown at Lopez and the tournament. Melanie Lautrup looked book on the incident on social media platform X one year on, but this dug up new info.
"It’s absolutely insane when u think back how Madrid didn’t allow the women doubles finalist to speak after their match like Feliciano didn’t get enough lashings for that & pretty match no consequences for anybody…," she tweeted. "Now he just doesn’t let any women’s doubles players to practice on site between 9-5pm," Ellen Perez tweeted in response.
"We aren’t allowed time on site to practice it’s a joke. Only 8am or 6pm. So not a lot of doubles teams bother because it’s such a sh*t time to practice. This tournament is a disgrace," she added.
Victoria Azarenka was centre to controversy last year after complaining about Cakegate.
She further said that she was at a loss as to how they have to play on outside facilities especially after more courts were added on site. "Seems that way. We get shipped off to offsite practice facilities like 15-20 mins away which the courts are very different. It all doesn’t make sense to me because there’s not even mens doubles here at the moment, and they added four more practice courts on site," Perez added.
It also comes after the tournament was left leaving fans headscratching after not announcing wildcards until the draws happened themselves with only Caroline Wozniacki and Martin Landaluce confirmed in an air of secrecy. With hardly any play yet, the controversy is back.
Now he just doesn’t let any women’s doubles players to practice on site between 9-5pm
We aren’t allowed time on site to practice it’s a joke. Only 8am or 6pm. So not a lot of doubles teams bother because it’s such a shit time to practice. This tournament is a disgrace
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