"A nice f**k you to the tournament after they f**ked over the ladies last year" - Andrea Petkovic on Iga Swiatek & Aryna Sabalenka's Madrid 2024 final

Former WTA World No. 9 Andrea Petkovic recently voiced her opinion on the 2024 Madrid Open women's singles final between Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka. According to Petkovic, the match was an incredible response to the prestigious WTA 1000 tournament's 2023 controversy surrounding its treatment of women players.

This year's final, contested between the top two seeds and a rematch of the 2023 final, saw both Swiatek and Sabalenka produce pulsating tennis. The match lasted for three hours and eleven minutes, with Swiatek saving three match points in the deciding set to win the epic contest 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(7).

Recently, Serena Williams' former coach Rennae Stubbs and Petkovic reflected on the final between Swiatek and Sabalenka in an episode of Racquet's Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast. At one point during the episode, Petkovic lauded the players for serving up one of the most thrilling women's tennis matches of the season so far.

"I was so mesmerized. I had the best three hours and 11 minutes. I was like, just watching, tennis at the hot plate, at the highest level of not only tennis but athleticism, of gameplan, of technique, of everything," Petkovic said.

The German also praised the crowd for creating an atmosphere befitting a final of this magnitude.

"The audience and the atmosphere, I'm getting goosebumps from the first point on when they saw, "oh my God, this is a f**king slugfest", they were in it, they were so passionate, it was really really fun," Petkovic added.

Lastly, the former WTA World No. 9 spoke about how the quality of the final between Swiatek and Sabalenka underscored the tournament's shortcomings in its treatment of several female stars in 2023.

The tournament came under fire last year for not allowing women's doubles finalists Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, and winners Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia, the chance to speak.

"Also, it was a nice f**k you to the tournament after they f**ked over the ladies last year," Petkovic concluded.

"We did a few things last year that shouldn't happen" - Madrid Open director Feliciano Lopez

Feliciano Lopez (L) and Ion Tiriac (R) at the 2023 Madrid Open

At the Madrid Open this year, Ons Jabeur criticized the tournament, accusing it of not showing enough respect for women's tennis players

"I feel like we have a long way, especially here in Madrid and in Rome - in Europe in general. I feel they need to respect women more and they need to respect how we are playing," Jabeur said during a press conference.

However, tournament director Feliciano Lopez took a defensive stance as he responded to Jabeur's criticism. The Spaniard, though, did admit to Sky Sports Tennis that in 2023, the tournament was at fault for not allowing the women's doubles finalists and winners to deliver their speeches.

"I think we did a few things last year that, I mean, shouldn't happen. I have to say and we learn from our mistakes, but I have to say that we were the first tournament to pay the same price money to women and men and so I don't think it's very fair for someone to think that we are not men and women equally, so we're doing a great job, I think in that matter," Lopez told Sky Sports Tennis.