Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad-Maia claimed their maiden doubles title together at the 2023
Madrid Open on Sunday evening, but issues arose after the match which have been highlighted on social media after beating
Coco Gauff and
Jessica Pegula.
Unlike the men's doubles matches and the singles tournaments, all four players who are all top singles stars and popular players in their own right as well as reaching the doubles final didn't have the chance to speak.
There were no speeches in the post-match portion with only the trophies handed out. Gauff spoke up on social media and put her own message which saw
Ons Jabeur chime in saying that it was 'sad and unacceptable'.
Pegula herself just put zipped mouth emojis, while Azarenka retweeted Pegula's tweet and wrote "Hard to explain to Leo (her son) that mommy isn’t able to say hello to him at the trophy ceremony."
A fairly strange occurrence and one that hasn't been helped this week, with Sabalenka and Alcaraz' cake storm as well as the ongoing debate about prize money inequality in the sport and this is another example which could raise discussion.