Jabeur Demands Respect for Women’s Tennis After Reaching Madrid Quarters

Ons Jabeur, the fiery Tunisian tennis star, used her platform at the Madrid Open to call out a lack of respect for women’s tennis by tournament organizers. Despite cruising into the quarterfinals with a dominant 6-0, 6-4 victory over Jelena Ostapenko, Jabeur’s frustration simmered after the match.

Jabeur, the reigning champion in Madrid (2022), took aim at tournament organizers, highlighting the ongoing struggle for gender equality in tennis despite it being a leader in women’s sports.

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“Absolutely, I’m proud to be a woman playing this sport,” declared the World No. 9, who will face either Coco Gauff or Madison Keys in the next round. “But there’s a long way to go, especially here in Madrid and Rome, across Europe really. They need to show women more respect, respect the way we compete.”

Jabeur wasn’t shy about sharing specific examples from her experiences. She pointed out unequal access to practice courts for women compared to men, and the significantly lower airtime given to WTA matches compared to ATP matches.

“The way they treat women and men here is completely different,” Jabeur stated. “Maybe outsiders don’t see it, but I’m one who wants to speak up about it. Here in Spain, I’d love to turn on the TV in my hotel room and see a women’s tennis match. Not a single one! I understand there are a lot of Spanish men playing, but can’t they show just one women’s match? Not even the Spanish women players get any airtime. It’s incredibly frustrating. How can you inspire young girls if they never see women’s tennis on TV?”

Meanwhile, World No. 1 Iga Swiatek continued her dominant run with a convincing 6-1, 6-0 victory over Spanish favorite Sara Sorribes Tormo. Swiatek dropped her opening service game but quickly regained control, winning the next 12 games to secure her spot in the quarterfinals. Her next opponent will be the Brazilian left-hander Beatriz Haddad Maia.

“We’ve had many tough battles against each other,” Swiatek said of her upcoming opponent. “It won’t be easy. She’s a very intense player and knows how to play effectively on clay.”

On the men’s side, American Ben Shelton’s dream run on clay came to an end. His undefeated start (5-0) was halted by Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik, who emerged victorious 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-4. Bublik now awaits the winner between Daniil Medvedev and Sebastian Korda in the fourth round.