Mutua Madrid Open: Feliciano, we are in the 21st century | Sports

Birthday cakes are a whole world. Anyone would say that with a chocolate cake everyone would be happy. Or that with a good piece of cake left over to blow out the candles and put a little sugar in the body. But, watch out. That we are in 2023. And choco con leche is no longer popular…

Birthday cakes are a whole world. Anyone would say that with a chocolate cake everyone would be happy. Or that with a good piece of cake left over to blow out the candles and put a little sugar in the body. But, watch out. That we are in 2023. And the choco con leche is no longer popular.

It is also not acceptable to treat women with condescension, paternalism, or disdain. To say something. Nor ignore them. Much less silence them. Let alone expose them as an orchid, precious and delicate. A few days ago the Mutua Madrid Open organized by Feliciano López made many of those 21st century mistakes.

First, he decided that the ball boys would be young and beautiful flight attendants dressed to the last with pleated skirts, in the purest style of the classic tennis courts, and cropped top polo shirts —a shirt that covers below the chest and leaves the abs exposed— , equipment signed by one of the sponsoring brands of the event. It was a good mess on social networks. That where were the usual boys and girls to act as ball boys, that if it was necessary to show the navel or run around in a skirt. How exaggerated. Exaggerated, mostly.

Then he decided that it was not the same to give a birthday cake to Aryna Sabalenka, 25 years old, born on May 5, number two in the world and —at that time— recently qualified for the final of the Madrid masters than to give her a giant cake by several people to Carlos Alcaraz, 20 years old, born on May 5, then number two in the world and —at that time— recently qualified for the final of the Madrid Masters. Let’s see, Carlitos is Spanish. He played at home. It’s not that bad. But Sabalenka complained. In her way. And he celebrated his victory the next day with a speech that started like this: “I won thanks to how good the cake was.” How spiteful.

The organization of the Madrid Open also decided that the finalist female couple in the doubles did not have the right to speak to the Caja Mágica at the end of their match, as the boys’ doubles couple who reached the final and lost it had done. Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, on the other hand, didn’t get the bus. And they chose to complain publicly through their social networks and, incidentally, give the thanks that they had been denied. “I don’t know what century they think they are living in or when someone had this great idea and thought there would be no reaction,” Pegula declared a few days later, upon arrival at the tournament in Rome (life goes on). “We need to be treated better,” denounced her colleague Ons Jabeur. What character.

Or not. The tennis players are neither exaggerated, nor are they spiteful. And yes, they have character. Goodness. The story of Billy Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graff, Venus and Serena Williams forces them to raise their voices whenever they don’t like something. “I don’t deserve less because I have breasts and they don’t,” Serena said not so many years ago. She claimed to earn the same as her fellow men. And she got it. The anomaly in tennis is that these days in Rome there is a future winner of the tournament who is going to earn more than double that of the future winner. That no longer happens on the tracks. And since the tennis players do not shut up, it will not happen again. This has been confirmed by the president of the Italian federation.

Something similar happened in Madrid: okay, Sabalenka didn’t get a bigger cake, but maybe it won’t happen again in the future, even if it’s to keep the forms; In the final, the ball boy-models wore pants so wide that their ankles could barely be seen, much less their navels; Gauff and Pegula were already called by the organizers of the Mutua Madrid Open to apologize. “It was unacceptable”, assumes the CEO, Gerard Tsobanian. Well done.

Now, not one step back. Shapes count. Acquired rights are not released. The voice must be raised. With or without microphone.

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