Jessica Pegula sheds light on how the infamous Madrid Open trophy ceremony controversy played out

Jessica Pegula has spoken up for the first time since the infamous women’s doubles Madrid Open trophy ceremony, where the finalists were denied the right to make their speeches.

On Sunday, May 7, the tennis world was left stunned as the winning pair of Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia and the runner-up pair of Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff were seemingly silenced after their women’s doubles final.

Jessica Pegula, who has since reached Rome for the WTA 1000 Italian Open, has now spoken out about the shocking incident. In her recent press conference in the Italian capital, Pegula revealed that she had sensed something was amiss before the “disappointing” incident played out.

“It was really disappointing. I had a feeling something was going to happen,” she said.

Pegula further stated that she wasn’t aware of the extent of the organizers’ decision until she and Gauff stood on the podium and were conveyed the news by Victoria Azarenka.

“It was kind of awkward. Vika turned to us and said, ‘There's no speeches.’ She was like, ‘We're not allowed to talk,’” Jessica Pegula revealed.

The World No. 3, who has inside knowledge due to her and Azarenka’s presence on the players’ council, believes that the situation boiled over due to the numerous other controversies that the Madrid Open was involved in prior to that.

“I think it was a buildup,” Jessica Pegula said. “There seemed to be a lot of drama in Madrid this year on a variety of different things. It just kind of got worse and worse and worse regarding a lot of issues that you guys see online, funny tweets or whatever.”

One such issue that the Madrid Open got itself entangled in was Victoria Azarenka calling out the organizers and director Feliciano Lopez for the disparity in the birthday celebrations of Aryna Sabalenka and home favorite Carlos Alcaraz.

It is also worth noting that World No. 1 Iga Swiatek had called out the tournament for its bad scheduling during her runner-up speech on Saturday, right after the women's singles final.

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"I don't know what century everyone was living in when they made that decision" – Jessica Pegula on the Madrid Open trophy ceremony fiasco

Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff and Victoria Azarenka discussing the Madrid Open situation

Regardless of the controversies that the Madrid Open was embroiled in and the fear of being called out in the speech, Jessica Pegula opined that the tournament should have handled the situation in a more professional manner.

“I wish they could have handled it in a more mature, professional way. That's not what happened,” Pegula said.

She further suggested that to be denied a speech at a WTA 1000 level was ludicrous, pointing out that players who win tournaments at a much lower level are never stopped from making a speech.

“Even in a 10K challenger final you would speak. I don't know what century everyone was living in when they made that decision or how they actually had a conversation and decided, like, ‘Wow, this is a great decision we're going to do and there's going to be no-backlash against this,’” she said. “It kind of spoke for itself.”

Pegula went on to declare that the players’ council will have a conversation about the mismanagement by the tournament.

“These problems cannot happen again and this needs to be changed. We'll definitely have that conversation with them,” she said.