Ghosts of 2023 misogyny controversy return to haunt Madrid Open as Ellen Perez accuses Feliciano Lopez of not allowing WTA doubles players to practice
The 2024 Madrid Open has already courted controversy, with doubles star Ellen Perez accusing tournament director Feliciano Lopez of not allowing women's doubles players to practice on site during the main hours.
In 2023, the Madrid Open became a hotbed of controversy, thanks to a variety of decisions taken by the management, particularly when it came to how it treated WTA players when compared to ATP players.
For starters, there was the "Cake Gate," where fans were shocked by the difference in the quality of the birthday cakes provided to Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka.
Then, World No. 1 Iga Swiatek shared her displeasure about the scheduling of her matches, where she periodically had to play past midnight, as men's matches were played earlier in the day.
After her outburst at the presentation ceremony, the women's doubles finalists (Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia) on the next day were denied the chance to address the crowd, leading to further cries of misogyny against Lopez and the Madrid Open organizers.
With the 2024 edition underway, one fan on Twitter (now X) recalled the incidents, lamenting how Lopez got away scot-free despite silencing women's players at the time.
"It’s absolutely insane when u think back how Madrid didn’t allow the women doubles finalist to speak after their match like Feliciano didn’t get enough lashings for that & pretty match no consequences for anybody…" the fan tweeted.
Replying to the tweet, two-time Grand Slam doubles finalist Ellen Perez unearthed a new set of horrors, revealing that he has not allowed WTA doubles players to practice on the courts at the tournament between 9 am and 5 pm.
"Now he just doesn’t let any women’s doubles players to practice on site between 9-5pm," Ellen Perez tweeted.
Perez pointed out that while doubles teams are allowed to practice at 8 am or 6 pm, not a lot of teams were willing to do so, as it was a "sh*t time" to practice. She went on to call the tournament a "disgrace" for making the decision in the first place.
"We aren’t allowed time on site to practice it’s a joke. Only 8am or 6pm. So not a lot of doubles teams bother because it’s such a sh*t time to practice. This tournament is a disgrace," she added.
"Doesn't make sense to me" - Ellen Perez on Feliciano Lopez not allowing women's doubles players proper practice
Ellen Perez also disclosed that if women's doubles players want to practice between 9 am and 5 pm, they are shipped off to off-site facilities about half an hour away from the main location. Unfortunately, the courts there are very different to the conditions at the stadium, Perez emphasized.
The Aussie was at a loss to explain why Lopez made such a rule, considering there are enough courts for her and her colleagues to practice at the moment.
"Seems that way. We get shipped off to offsite practice facilities like 15-20 mins away which the courts are very different.
"It all doesn’t make sense to me because there’s not even mens doubles here at the moment, and they added four more practice courts on site," Perez added.