5 controversies from Madrid Open 2023

The 2023 Madrid Open came to an end, with Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz being the singles champions. Sabalenka won the women's singles title by defeating World No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the final to win the WTA 1000 tournament for the second time in her career.

Alcaraz successfully defended his Madrid title by beating Jan-Lennard Struff in the title clash, thus becoming only the second player to win in back-to-back years. The Spaniard's victory saw him get extremely close to Novak Djokovic in the ATP rankings. He is currently ranked No. 2 with 6770 points, just five behind the Serb.

This year's Madrid Open was the very first edition of the tournament that lasted two weeks and there were some scintillating encounters. However, the competition had quite a few controversial moments that were heavily criticized by tennis players, past and present, and fans.

On that note, let's take a look at 5 controversies from the 2023 Madrid Open.

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#1. Models as ball girls

Madrid Open first hired models as ball kids in 2004 and there have been quite a few editions since with it being repeated. This year, there were two separate ball crews, with one consisting of female models dressed in flowy skirts and black crop tops while the other had regular ball girls in their professional uniform.

The models would often be seen at La Caja Magica's main court, the Estadio Manolo Santana. Many fans slammed the Madrid Open organizers for using them as ballgirls, calling it sexist.

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#2. "Cakegate"

Another major controversy at the Madrid Open was the difference in sizes of birthday cakes the tournament organizers gave Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka, both of who celebrated their birthdays on May 7.

Alcaraz's cake was a multi-tiered one while Sabalenka's was considerably smaller. Victoria Azarenka and Bianca Andreescu were among many who were displeased with the birthday cake situation.

Madrid Open director Feliciano Lopez, however, listed a few reasons as to why Alcaraz's cake was bigger, claiming that the 20-year-old had just won his match and was playing on the main court at the time.

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#3. Women's doubles players not allowed to address the crowd

Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia were the women's doubles champions at the Madrid Open by beating Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula in the final. However, neither pair was given the chance to speak during the presentation ceremony, something that Gauff tweeted about.

A number of tennis players, past and present, were baffled by this and expressed their displeasure on the matter. These included Ons Jabeur, Rennae Stubbs, Greg Rusedski and Ellen Perez.

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#4. Scheduling issues

WTA World No. 1 Iga Swiatek dragged the Madrid Open's scheduling during her runner-up speech after losing the final to Aryna Sabalenka. The Pole said that while she loved competing in the Spanish capital, she didn't have fun playing at 1 am in the night.

"It's a beautiful city and it's a pleasure to play in front of you guys. It’s not fun to play at 1 am though, so I’m happy anyway that I was able to get past this experience and survive and be in the final," Swiatek said.

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#5. Courts being slowed down

Former tennis player Daniela Hantuchova made a bold claim before the men's singles final that the courts at the Madrid Open were being slowed down by being constantly watered so that Carlos Alcaraz returned the serve easily.

"One thing, guys, I do want to point out, the groundspeople have watered the court twice since we’ve been talking. So I feel they’re trying to make the court as slow as possible, so it’s easier for Carlos to return that serve. But that doesn’t happen. That was the first time this week that I noticed that he’s already covered at least this side twice with the water," Hantuchova said.

The Slovak added that Alcaraz was receiving special treatment since he was Spanish.

“Especially on clay, that’s what we were kind of always expecting when you play a Spanish player here or in Italy when you play someone from Italy,” Hantuchova said.