The ball girls at the Madrid Open were spotted wearing different outfits for the men’s singles final following a row over “sexism” at the tournament. Eagle-eyed viewers previously spotted that the ball crew had different outfits for different matches – with the young women sporting crop tops, short skirts and knee-high socks for men’s matches. But in the final against Carlos Alcaraz and Jan-Lennard Struff they were given new, oversized shorts.
The Madrid Open has come under fire over the last fortnight – mostly for the treatment of women at the tournament. And the ball girls’ outfits has been one of the main talking points – with a spokesperson for the association Pilar Calvo telling Publico: “It’s a way of feminising girls with respect to boys who don’t dress in the same way.
“Ultimately, it’s a form of sexist violence that is so widespread that people don’t even notice it.” Spain’s Association for Women in Professional Sport also considered putting in a complaint.
But the controversial outfits were ditched for the men’s singles final which saw Alcaraz defeat lucky loser Struff 6-4 3-6 6-3. The ball girls were seen in crop tops that were longer than those they wore previously, with the addition of large, oversized shorts instead of the pleated skirts.
Fans had previously noted that there appeared to be two different variations of the ball kids’ outfit, one which saw the girls don the “sexist” outfits and another more standard selection of a shirt and shorts, worn by both the ball boys and the younger girls for mostly women’s matches.
Madrid Open bosses are yet to directly address the backlash over the outfits, though the large shorts appeared to be a brand-new addition for the last match of the tournament. And the ball girls’ clothing isn’t the only thing that chiefs have received backlash for over the fortnight.
Victoria Azarenka hit out at the “difference in treatment” when WTA world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka received a small cake for her 25th birthday on Friday, when she had a day off between the semi-final and final. Meanwhile, ATP No 2 Carlos Alcaraz received a huge two-tier cake presented to him on court after advancing to the championship match.
Tournament director Feliciano Lopez responded and said Alcaraz was given a bigger cake as a Spanish player competing on centre court on the day of his birthday. But the event came under more fire when the women’s doubles finalists were not allowed to give speeches after contesting the championship match on Sunday.
Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia partnered to upset top seeds Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff, but neither team was given the microphone during the trophy ceremony. Gauff later took to Twitter to confirm that they weren’t “given the chance to speak after the final today.”
Both Gauff and Azarenka tweeted condensed versions of what they would have said, while the Belarusian added: “Hard to explain to Leo that mommy isn’t able to say hello to him at the trophy ceremony.” And last year’s singles champion Ons Jabeur responded by slamming the decision as “sad and unacceptable.”
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