A tournament beset by controversies, tournament director for the Madrid Open, Feliciano Lopez was heavily criticised during the clay court season.
Lopez who has just retired from the sport himself saw Iga Swiatek berate the tournament for having to play at 1am, the Aryna Sabalenka cake fiasco.
But not only that but the women's doubles soon after where both Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia and Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff were both denied speeches.
One of the most talked about stories in tennis for some time, Lopez has now responded in an interview with Clay Tenis saying that the decision was wrong and that the tournament has already apologised for the incident in question.
"Well, a decision was made… I’m not going to go into details, but a decision was made for which the CEO of the tournament and the tournament have already apologized.
"For reasons that we’re not going to go into detail now. It already happened. That decision was wrongly made, forgiveness was asked for it, and from there on, the only thing left to do is to move forward.
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.
Based in Leicester, Samuel has a broad background in tennis media. In his current role, he works closely with editors and writers to ensure coverage meets clear journalistic standards, with particular attention to verification, consistency, and timely updates when new information becomes available.
Iga Swiatek finished two of her six matches at the Madrid Open after midnight.
Iga hinted at an awful scheduling during the trophy ceremony, saying, “it’s not fun to play at 1 am.”
Madrid Open director Feliciano Lopez’s face says it all: