Victoria Azarenka and Bianca Andreescu recently reacted to Aryna Sabalenka receiving a much smaller birthday cake from the Madrid Open organizers compared to Carlos Alcaraz.
Alcaraz and Sabalenka both celebrated their birthday on May 5, with the former turning 20 and the latter 25. Both players received birthday cakes from the Madrid Open, where they are currently competing.
However, there was a considerable difference in the size of the two cakes. Alcaraz received a multi-tier cake after his semifinal win over Borna Coric, while Sabalenka's cake was much smaller.
Victoria Azarenka suggested that the difference in sizes of the cakes reflected the treatment towards men's and women's players.
"Couldn’t be more accurate on the treatment," Azarenka tweeted.
Bianca Andreescu also expressed her disappointment, claiming that Alcaraz's cake being much larger than Sabalenka's wasn't "right."
"This doesn't look right," the 2019 US Open champion tweeted.
Journalist Ben Rothenberg recalled another instance where there was a disparity in cake sizes for different players.
The Miami Open presented a much smaller cake to Lleyton Hewitt on reaching 600 career wins in 2014 than they did to Andy Murray when he got to 500 career wins in 2015 at the same event.
Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka have both reached the final at the Madrid Open
Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz will both compete in the singles finals at the Madrid Open. The Belarusian booked her place in the women's title clash with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Maria Sakkari. She will take on Iga Swiatek for the Madrid Open trophy on Saturday, May 6.
Sabalenka and Swiatek will lock horns for the seventh time, with the Pole leading 5-2 in the head-to-head. They recently faced off in the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, where Swiatek won 6-3, 6-4.
Carlos Alcaraz, meanwhile, will take on lucky loser Jan-Lennard Struff in the men's singles final on Sunday, May 7. The Spaniard beat 17th seed Borna Coric 6-3, 6-4 on his 20th birthday, while Struff beat Aslan Karatsev 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Alcaraz and Struff will lock horns for the third time on Sunday, with their head-to-head currently tied at 1-1. Their last meeting came in the first round of last year's Wimbledon Championships, where the Spaniard won 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-4.