Sabalenka Takes Swipe At Madrid Open Tournament Director Amid Birthday Cake Controversy

The trophy ceremony after the women's final at the 2023 Madrid Open was quite spicy with Aryna Sabalenka taking a sly dig at Feliciano Lopez.

The tournament director of the 2023 Madrid Open, Feliciano Lopez, was left a bit shocked during the speeches of the finalists after the WTA final in the Spanish capital. Aryna Sabalenka defeated Iga Swiatek in the final and both players were quite honest after the match.

First, the young Pole criticized the tournament organizators for their scheduling, as she was forced to finish one of her matches at 1 AM. And then, also Sabalenka appeared to take a dig at Feliciano Lopez amid the recent birthday cake controversy.

The world no. 2 received a smaller birthday cake than her colleague from the ATP Tour, Carlos Alcaraz, and many fellow WTA players didn't like that. The topic soon went viral on social media with many voicing their displeasure.

Also, Sabalenka shared one of the tweets along with three disappointed emojis, but she soon deleted it as also tournament director Feliciano Lopez shared his thoughts about the incident and why he doesn't see it as one. However, during the trophy ceremony, the champion reminded everyone of what happened in recent days.

"I think it's all because of yesterday's cake, it was too good."

However, the honesty of Sabalenka and Swiatek maybe prompted tournament organizers to make an interesting move as another controversy arose. After the WTA doubles final between Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia, and Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, none of the duos were allowed to have a speech after the final, and it quickly made fellow WTA players angry again.

After the match, the Belarusian also praised a new format of the event, as starting from this year, the Madrid Open is played as a 96-player event over almost two weeks, giving more time to players in between the matches.

"Yeah, I love it. I actually love it, because you have an extra day off. Not day off. Of course we are practicing this day, but still we are able to see the city and we are able to go for a good dinner. So it's really good to have like an extra day for the recovery."