Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula urged to break rank in Italian Open final speeches

Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff should deliver “two speeches” after their Italian Open WTA-1000 Doubles Final on Saturday after they were denied the right to speak after the Madrid Open.

That’s the view of former American tennis star Pam Shriver, who has weighed in on the condemnation that followed in the wake of the controversial decision made by organisers at the ATP tour event in the Spanish capital on May 7.

The in-form US pairing of Pegula and Gauff were surprise runners-up in the Madrid final, when they were taken down 6-1, 6-4 by the new pairing of Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia.

But surprisingly, neither duo was allowed to make a speech during the presentation ceremony, forcing the players to post their own messages on social media instead, much to the dismay of many in the tennis world.

But this weekend, the top-seeded Pegula and Gauff will contest their third consecutive WTA-1000 Doubles Final in Rome, when they take on the Australian-Belgian pair of Storm Sanders and Elise Mertens.

And after what happened in Madrid a fortnight ago, former world number three, Shriver, who won an incredible 21 Grand Slam doubles titles during her career, thinks the top-ranked seeds should be able to make up for the Madrid missed opportunity in Rome on Saturday.

Responding to a Tweet from Pegula about the women’s doubles final, Shriver replied: “Please make two speeches!” followed by a wink emoji.

Saturday’s appearance at the Italian Open – also known as the Rome Masters – will be Pegula and Gauff’s fourth women’s doubles final of the year after also going the distance in Qatar, Miami and Madrid. It is also their eighth final as a pair overall.

Victory against Sanders and Mertens would be their second shared success of 2023, putting them in great shape for a genuine shot at the same competition in the French Open, which gets underway next week.

Regardless of the eventual outcome, both sets of finalists will be hoping that there is no repeat of the scenes in Madrid when acceptance speeches were omitted from the trophy presentation ceremonies.

In the wake of the Madrid final, Gauff Tweeted: “Wasn’t given the chance to speak after the final today. Twitter format doesn’t allow me to say everything I would’ve said during the speech if we had one.”

The eventual winners of Saturday’s final are in for a considerably better payday than last year’s champions after prize money for the Italian Open was increased dramatically. The triumphant duo will each walk away with £158,266 – a hefty 87.8 per cent increase on last year’s prize pot.