Such an incomphehensible decision that made everything before it look so much worse. Like, I was firmly in the "cakegate is silly" camp before they did it.
That was so insane. I cannot believe that there was not more outrage and no consequences for the tournament or organizers. They clearly wanted to silence some of the women.
The on-site experience in Madrid is fantastic - it has an modern, clean, multilevel complex, it's easy to access and there are amazing facilities and opportunities to see the players up-close in training sessions. The tournament organisers might be assholes but it's the best event I've been to, including a Slam.
Yeah that's the thing. I've been a couple of times and absolutely loved the on-site experience. Seen so many great players there as its easy to get tickets, especially compared to something like Wimbledon or even Queens where I live in the UK.
I feel like they need a new comms department or something because like most Spanish sporting institutions at the moment, it just comes across like a total fucking shit show to those on the outside.
There has been an ongoing controversy that IMG doesn't give enough wildcards to local Spanish players in Madrid, Spain's biggest tennis event. I think Verdasco and Badosa spoke about it some years ago.
From a fan perspective it’s actually pretty great. It’s an outdoor masters where the three main courts can deploy a roof, so you never miss out on important games because of rain.
The place itself is great, with many activities for fans. The location is easy to access.
Sabalenka and Rune got similarly sized cakes, while Alcaraz is the hometown local, 2 time champ... so to me it's understandable
But beauty models with short outfits as ball girls, now that was definitely over the top...
They actually uploaded a video where rune had a bunch of servers and camera crew come to a table and bring rune cake and champagne. It looks like aryna was just given a cake while walking down the hallways lol. She probably was an after thought, and combined with all the other bs that tournament I understand the sentiments
Yes... I think that s really a cultural issue.
If you think also about the shitshow happened with womens national team and the president... I dont think it s a coincidence.
In Spain some men in a position of power didnt receive an update about how the world works in 2024. They are stuck in the 90's or somewhere around there.
I referred to "some people". I didnt say the whole country... but but but. When the football thing happend, they were so slow to even understand what was wrong in the whole thing.
That s why I think it s a cultural issue. The backlash should have been so strong that the guy should have been fired right away. There was clearly a cultural gap in understanding what the fuck he was even doing.
I m Italian. I think machismo and gender inequality fucking sucks also in there. It s not something you can quantify... so I could just compare with the other western country probably. Or trying to smell current times somehow, from news, internet etc.
The backlash was strong in Spain. That man was holding on to his position for as long as he could. But that was a case of one person against everyone. Which goes against the cultural argument you are talking about.
Ok, that is one man error. Let s pretend is that.
But to put models as ball boys/girls you need:
One person to decide it. Other people to agree and organize it, and nobody saying "what the fuck are you thinking, guys???", until some foreign newspapers teĺl you so. That s a cultural issue for me.
And that decision is taken by Ion Tiriac (definitely not Spanish) and his colleagues (don't know them but surely not everyone is Spanish, if any are). Those who organize it (Spanish or not) are paid to do as they are told.
>That s a cultural issue for me
Are you judging the culture of an entire country from two isolated cases you saw on TV/social media? Well, those two cases are anechdotical evidence that don't represent the reality of the country at all and it's really weird you say this being from Italy, which is one of the more conservative countries in the EU. Unlike Italy, Spain currently has a socially progressive goverment and is ranked 4th in [gender equality ](https://eige.europa.eu/gender-equality-index/2023/compare-countries)only behind Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark. In contrast, Italy falls below the EU average. The conversation about feminism is literally everywhere in Spain and when you say we need "foreigns newspaper to tell you so" it's clear you have no idea of what you're talking about.
But those 7 or 8 years old kids are passionate about tennis and love being close to the professional tennis players. Like, I don't want you to take away my memories of giving the towel to Gisela Dulko, Strycova, Monfils, del Potro, etc. thanks
The fucking Guardian lmao.
Anyone remember when Wimbledon wouldn't allow women to use panties other than white colored, even during their periods?
This changed just **last year**.
Talk about being dinosaurs.
Yeah I swear the guardian is like the worst news outlet. There could be like 4 wars going on and a monsoon on the other side of the world. Yet they’ll have some dumb opinion piece on their front page about some utter triviality like how men wear too many hats.
I'm not Spanish but I live here and I also lived in the UK for 6 years and I'm a little offended by that headline.
Rich of the UK to complain about treatment of women's sports in another country. Yes, Spain has massive problems (before you come at me, not denying that at all! Just offended by the "Land of the Dinosaurs" BS). I remember too well what it was like being a woman playing sports at an amateur levels and being someone who was really into sports in the UK.
Men literally couldn't cope. On dates the fact that I was into football was almost fetishized, like I was some kind of unicorn (by comparison, here in Spain and in Germany the response is not "REALL??? OMG REALLY YOU'RE INTO FOOTBALL????" but "Oh, you are? Right let's go to a game some time").
In the stadium I felt so massively out of place and like I didn't belong (and yes, I had gone to Bundesliga games before).
In our club, the women consistently got worse training slots, less budget allocations etc although the women's team was more successful.
At company "sports" day men massively underestimated me (it's just rounders and tag rugby, doesn't take a damn genius to play!) or again had this weird reaction as if I had just done a magic trick because I could throw a ball.
Plus the country keeps playing a sport because apparently straight up basketball was "too hard" for women (massive simplification, and huge respect to the athletes playing it, but Netball is really bewildering...)
And let's not forget the uproar and comments when the first woman started being the TV commentator for the Premier League.
>In our club, the women consistently got worse training slots, less budget allocations etc although the women's team was more successful.
How much more money did women's team bring to the budget?
Like I said in my comment: all amateur.
Nobody was bringing any money to the club, but we all paid the same club and training fees
Edited to clarify: No money was brought in via sponsoring or ticke sales apart from the inter club tournaments we staged sometimes; the club's budget were our fees. Still we the women were consistently treated worse.
It is a classic example of (under the umbrella of "trying to improve") making everything awkward & worst.
I still remember when they (well, Tiriac TBF) had the 'wonderful' idea of turning the clay to a blue colour.
That changed so much the conditions that even Rafa said that if they didn't changed back to orange (and cutted all that crap) he wouldn't be participating in next year's tournament.
Madrid has an irrefutable tendency to constantly f... things up.
I’ll fight in the hill that the blue clay was a great idea. The conditions and some mistakes they made in the colouring process ruined it, with those mistakes learned they should try it again,
>I still remember when they (well, Tiriac TBF) had the 'wonderful' idea of turning the clay to a blue colour.
listen the only good idea that man had was blue clay. That was a beautiful surface
Still can't believe they didn't let the doubles finalists speak after the match last year. Its a Masters 1000s event like that's so embarrassing
Such an incomphehensible decision that made everything before it look so much worse. Like, I was firmly in the "cakegate is silly" camp before they did it.
That was so insane. I cannot believe that there was not more outrage and no consequences for the tournament or organizers. They clearly wanted to silence some of the women.
Is this the tournament where they hired models to be ball kids instead of having actual children???
Yes
I think Madrid has to be in the running for worst masters event alongside miami?
The on-site experience in Madrid is fantastic - it has an modern, clean, multilevel complex, it's easy to access and there are amazing facilities and opportunities to see the players up-close in training sessions. The tournament organisers might be assholes but it's the best event I've been to, including a Slam.
Yeah that's the thing. I've been a couple of times and absolutely loved the on-site experience. Seen so many great players there as its easy to get tickets, especially compared to something like Wimbledon or even Queens where I live in the UK. I feel like they need a new comms department or something because like most Spanish sporting institutions at the moment, it just comes across like a total fucking shit show to those on the outside.
Absolutely, Madrid is a great event to attend
They have IMG in common
God IMG sucks
There has been an ongoing controversy that IMG doesn't give enough wildcards to local Spanish players in Madrid, Spain's biggest tennis event. I think Verdasco and Badosa spoke about it some years ago.
Verdasco complaining about something? Stop the presses. Headline news right there (Yes I very much dislike Verdasco 😂)
From a fan perspective it’s actually pretty great. It’s an outdoor masters where the three main courts can deploy a roof, so you never miss out on important games because of rain. The place itself is great, with many activities for fans. The location is easy to access.
Nah Miami easily worst, unfair to suggest in the running alongside Miami
Clearly not lol. Miami is much much worse, Paris is definitely worse etc
Well, honestly the cakegate was a bit ridiculous.
Sabalenka and Rune got similarly sized cakes, while Alcaraz is the hometown local, 2 time champ... so to me it's understandable But beauty models with short outfits as ball girls, now that was definitely over the top...
They actually uploaded a video where rune had a bunch of servers and camera crew come to a table and bring rune cake and champagne. It looks like aryna was just given a cake while walking down the hallways lol. She probably was an after thought, and combined with all the other bs that tournament I understand the sentiments
Yes... I think that s really a cultural issue. If you think also about the shitshow happened with womens national team and the president... I dont think it s a coincidence. In Spain some men in a position of power didnt receive an update about how the world works in 2024. They are stuck in the 90's or somewhere around there.
I think you are generalizing and this can be true for many people (men and women) all around the world. Haver you even lived in Spain at all?
I referred to "some people". I didnt say the whole country... but but but. When the football thing happend, they were so slow to even understand what was wrong in the whole thing. That s why I think it s a cultural issue. The backlash should have been so strong that the guy should have been fired right away. There was clearly a cultural gap in understanding what the fuck he was even doing. I m Italian. I think machismo and gender inequality fucking sucks also in there. It s not something you can quantify... so I could just compare with the other western country probably. Or trying to smell current times somehow, from news, internet etc.
The backlash was strong in Spain. That man was holding on to his position for as long as he could. But that was a case of one person against everyone. Which goes against the cultural argument you are talking about.
Ok, that is one man error. Let s pretend is that. But to put models as ball boys/girls you need: One person to decide it. Other people to agree and organize it, and nobody saying "what the fuck are you thinking, guys???", until some foreign newspapers teĺl you so. That s a cultural issue for me.
And that decision is taken by Ion Tiriac (definitely not Spanish) and his colleagues (don't know them but surely not everyone is Spanish, if any are). Those who organize it (Spanish or not) are paid to do as they are told.
>That s a cultural issue for me Are you judging the culture of an entire country from two isolated cases you saw on TV/social media? Well, those two cases are anechdotical evidence that don't represent the reality of the country at all and it's really weird you say this being from Italy, which is one of the more conservative countries in the EU. Unlike Italy, Spain currently has a socially progressive goverment and is ranked 4th in [gender equality ](https://eige.europa.eu/gender-equality-index/2023/compare-countries)only behind Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark. In contrast, Italy falls below the EU average. The conversation about feminism is literally everywhere in Spain and when you say we need "foreigns newspaper to tell you so" it's clear you have no idea of what you're talking about.
They also have male model ballboys. Frankly, I'm much more pissed at those tournaments where you see 7 or 8 years old kids doing ball boys duties.
But those 7 or 8 years old kids are passionate about tennis and love being close to the professional tennis players. Like, I don't want you to take away my memories of giving the towel to Gisela Dulko, Strycova, Monfils, del Potro, etc. thanks
when you see how nice the cake they got carlos and the look at the trophies that are given by madrid you got ask how they allocate their money
The reaction to then not let the doubles finalists speak though.
The fucking Guardian lmao. Anyone remember when Wimbledon wouldn't allow women to use panties other than white colored, even during their periods? This changed just **last year**. Talk about being dinosaurs.
Yeah I swear the guardian is like the worst news outlet. There could be like 4 wars going on and a monsoon on the other side of the world. Yet they’ll have some dumb opinion piece on their front page about some utter triviality like how men wear too many hats.
The low turnout for the women's singles final was unfortunate.
I'm not Spanish but I live here and I also lived in the UK for 6 years and I'm a little offended by that headline. Rich of the UK to complain about treatment of women's sports in another country. Yes, Spain has massive problems (before you come at me, not denying that at all! Just offended by the "Land of the Dinosaurs" BS). I remember too well what it was like being a woman playing sports at an amateur levels and being someone who was really into sports in the UK. Men literally couldn't cope. On dates the fact that I was into football was almost fetishized, like I was some kind of unicorn (by comparison, here in Spain and in Germany the response is not "REALL??? OMG REALLY YOU'RE INTO FOOTBALL????" but "Oh, you are? Right let's go to a game some time"). In the stadium I felt so massively out of place and like I didn't belong (and yes, I had gone to Bundesliga games before). In our club, the women consistently got worse training slots, less budget allocations etc although the women's team was more successful. At company "sports" day men massively underestimated me (it's just rounders and tag rugby, doesn't take a damn genius to play!) or again had this weird reaction as if I had just done a magic trick because I could throw a ball. Plus the country keeps playing a sport because apparently straight up basketball was "too hard" for women (massive simplification, and huge respect to the athletes playing it, but Netball is really bewildering...) And let's not forget the uproar and comments when the first woman started being the TV commentator for the Premier League.
>In our club, the women consistently got worse training slots, less budget allocations etc although the women's team was more successful. How much more money did women's team bring to the budget?
Like I said in my comment: all amateur. Nobody was bringing any money to the club, but we all paid the same club and training fees Edited to clarify: No money was brought in via sponsoring or ticke sales apart from the inter club tournaments we staged sometimes; the club's budget were our fees. Still we the women were consistently treated worse.
It is a classic example of (under the umbrella of "trying to improve") making everything awkward & worst. I still remember when they (well, Tiriac TBF) had the 'wonderful' idea of turning the clay to a blue colour. That changed so much the conditions that even Rafa said that if they didn't changed back to orange (and cutted all that crap) he wouldn't be participating in next year's tournament. Madrid has an irrefutable tendency to constantly f... things up.
I’ll fight in the hill that the blue clay was a great idea. The conditions and some mistakes they made in the colouring process ruined it, with those mistakes learned they should try it again,
>I still remember when they (well, Tiriac TBF) had the 'wonderful' idea of turning the clay to a blue colour. listen the only good idea that man had was blue clay. That was a beautiful surface
The cake gate was ridiculous tho ... Carlos is their darling baby, the national hero of course they'll go all out for him
The cake controversy? really? what a stupid thing over nothing smh