Madrid Open boss caught up in ‘sexism’ row will get new job main one other occasion

Lopez is presently in his ultimate yr as an expert tennis participant earlier than retiring. But the previous world No 12 has already been having fun with a brand new stage of his profession as he grew to become the event director for the Masters 1000 in Madrid again in 2019.

But the occasion induced controversy this yr after quite a lot of points that noticed feminine gamers and ball youngsters obtain questionable therapy. Despite the uproar, the International Tennis Federation has named Lopez the brand new event director for the Davis Cup Finals.

The 41-year-old received the world cup of males’s tennis with Spain on 4 totally different events and can lead the group stage in September in addition to the Finals week in November. “It is a great honour to become Davis Cup Finals Tournament Director and I thank the ITF for appointing me,” Lopez mentioned.

Already a event director in Madrid, he added: “As Tournament Director, my sole focus will be to build on the recent success of the competition and make it the best it can be for players and supporters across the world. I can’t wait to get started.”

ITF president David Haggerty mentioned: “His playing record speaks for itself and he is adored across Spain for good reason, but he has also shown his talent as a Tournament Director in recent years and that is why we have brought him in at this stage of the competition.”

But some within the tennis world will want some convincing after this yr’s Madrid Open. Spain’s Association for Women in Professional Sport appeared to subject a criticism as ball women have been seen wearing crop tops and quick skirts. For the final, they were then seen in baggy, oversized shorts regardless of no formal acknowledgement of the complaints.

The ladies’s doubles finalists have been then stopped from giving speeches as players hinted it was because Azarenka was involved and ended up successful the title with Beatriz Haddad Maia.

Coco Gauff – who was the runner-up alongside associate Jessica Pegula – later mentioned: “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. I think that we worked hard to get to that final.”