Gauff Believes Tournament Organizers Should Take Criticism Amid Latest Controversy

Tuesday, 09 May 2023 at 15:32

Updated at Wednesday, 30 July 2025 at 18:30

byZachary Wimer

Coco Gauff addressed the recent incident from the Madrid Open, which saw the doubles finalists at the WTA 1000 event unable to talk to the crowd during the ceremony.

The doubles finalists were not allowed to speak after the final match in Madrid, and it made everyone angry. Gauff was one of the first players to take to Twitter and share her thoughts, and others soon followed her lead.

Since the situation was really controversial and everyone in the tennis world has been talking about it over the past few days, the young American was asked about it ahead of the upcoming Italian Open in Rome, where she's set to compete.

"Yeah, for me, like, I'm going to say it wasn't about the speech, about what was said. I mean, obviously we lost, so it probably didn't mean as much as to Vika and Bea, who won. It wasn't so much about me wanting to speak and speak to the crowd."

Gauff made it clear that, for her, the problem was not about the speeches themselves, but rather the principle behind the decision. She felt that the players were denied a platform to address the crowd, and by doing so, the organizers tried to avoid criticism.

"I guess I do think the player should address the crowd, people who came and supported the event. But I think it was just more about the principle behind it, that in future cases, I don't know if someone, maybe me or somebody else criticizes the organization or tournament, maybe deeper than what was said, I don't know, maybe racism, homophobia, something like that. You can't just cut, no speech, no nothing. You have to take those criticisms."

Gauff pointed out that in other sports, athletes often call out their organizations, and there is nothing wrong with that. She believes that it is the responsibility of those in charge to be able to hear criticism from the athletes.

"You look at other sporting events, a lot of people call out their organizations. Nothing wrong with that. I think the professional thing to do is keep things as normal. In tennis, we are probably one of the few sports where we give a speech."

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"I don't care about giving the speech, but I'm just saying we should respect that type of thing and it shouldn't happen again in the future, especially when the other events got speeches as well. I think it's just about the principle behind that."

The worst thing for the teenager was probably the fact that, according to what was said to her, the decision was made based on a situation that didn't even involve her. Essentially, she was denied a speech just because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"I was told it was a situation that didn't involve me that happened. I'm not going to go into that situation. People probably know what it was. But, yeah, that's what I was told. I said that situation for me was not deep enough to not have a trophy ceremony."

Once again, disappointed Gauff emphasized that the whole controversy doesn't lie behind the fact that they were not able to talk and thank the people that they wanted to thank, but rather the principle.

"I think that we worked hard to get to that final. It's not about the speech. I have a lot of finals, so it's not about that. It's more about the principle behind it, so this can't happen again for future girls, take the opportunity away from them."