Tournament director Feliciano Lopez said the Madrid Open would “try to be fair to everyone” after Ons Jabeur called on organizers to “respect women more”.
After her fourth-round victory over Jelena Ostapenko in the Spanish capital, two-time Wimbledon finalist Jabeur criticized the tournament for “favoring men” and bemoaned the lack of coverage of women’s matches.
The tournament sparked controversy early on after Australian doubles player Ellen Perez revealed on social media that women’s doubles players would not be allowed to practice on local courts between 9am and 5pm. Instead, they were assigned off-site practice areas.
Lopez admitted organizers made mistakes last year, but the former world number 12 felt Jabeur’s comments were “unfair”.
Jabeur, who reached the second place of his career in 2022, said: “I feel like we still have a long way to go, especially here in Madrid and in Rome, in Europe in general. I feel like they need to respect women more and more.” They need to respect how we play and yes, in many things in training they may be completely different. I don’t see it.
“Yes, I am definitely one of the people I would like to speak out about. I really enjoy watching women’s tennis and I enjoy watching women’s sports in general. I think we deserve better. It’s not that we don’t try hard, and we do. We definitely demand more than we deserve.
“I think women’s tennis has come a long way. I’m very grateful to Billie Jean King and all the other women who fought hard, Serena.” [Williams]Maria [Sharapova], all of them. They try to represent the sport very well. I think a lot of players need to be aware of this and know what’s really happening,” she continued.
“Much more needs to be done when it comes to respecting female athletes in tennis and other sports.”
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Jabeur’s run at the tournament ended in the quarterfinals against Madison Keys
Speak with Sky Sports TennisLopez defended the Madrid Open as he responded to Jabeur’s comments, saying: “I think we did a few things last year that shouldn’t have happened, but we learned from our mistakes. But I have to say that we were.” It was the first tournament where women and men received equal prize money, and so I don’t think it’s fair that some people think we don’t treat men and women equally.
“We are doing a great job in this regard, but I understand the frustration about certain things because many things can happen during a tournament, such as: B. Transport and training sessions, but we try to be equal and fair at all times. That’s why I think we have to move on and try to be fair to everyone.”
Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff, Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia were not allowed to give speeches on court after last year’s women’s doubles final in Madrid
Lopez also spoke about the 2023 women’s doubles final, where Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia defeated Americans Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff to win the title, but in a break with tradition, organizers canceled their on-court speeches , which caused a lot of criticism.
“Last year I have to accept that the problem with the double final, we apologize and move on,” said Lopez.
“We have meetings with WTA players and ATP players who are always ready to help and I think this is the most important thing. There are a lot of things we can do in the future.”
“It’s difficult to say no to the people you know. They feel like they can ask for a lot of things because of our relationship and sometimes it’s a challenge for me to say no. I have to accept that this is part of my job.”
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