World No 3 Jessica Pegula has criticised Madrid Open organisers after the American and her fellow women's doubles finalists were not allowed to make speeches at the trophy ceremony.
Pegula and Coco Gauff lost the women's doubles final 6-1 6-4 to Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia on Sunday yet none of the players were given the chance to address the audience.
The men's doubles finalists were allowed to do so following their match a day earlier.
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"What happened in Madrid, it was really disappointing... I had a feeling something was going to happen," Pegula said ahead of this week's Italian Open. "Did I think we were not going to be able to speak? No.
"I've never heard of that... in my life. I don't know what century everyone was living in when they made that decision - or how they had a conversation and decided, 'Wow, this is a great decision and there's going to be no-backlash against this'.
"I've never heard in my life we wouldn't be able to speak. It was really disappointing. In a $10,000 final you would speak.
"It spoke for itself. We were upset when it happened and told during the trophy ceremony we weren't able to speak. It kind of proved a point."
BBC Sport quoted Madrid Open organisers as saying of the decision: "The tournament will not comment on the matter."
Gauff added the issue was not about the speech itself.
"I have a lot of finals, so it's not about that," Gauff said. "It's more about the principle behind it, so this can't happen again for future girls, take the opportunity away from them."
Azarenka said it was "hard to explain" to her son Leo that she was not able to speak at the trophy ceremony. World No 7 Ons Jabeur, who did not play in Madrid, wrote on social media it was "sad and unacceptable" that players were not allowed to speak.
The Madrid Open offers equal prize money across both ATP and WTA events, with singles champions taking home just over £1m and doubles champions sharing £330,000. Pegula and Gauff shared £176,000 as doubles runners-up.
Sexism row hits tournament
The tournament has been beset by accusations of sexism outside the controversy around speeches.
Ball girls for the men's final on Sunday wore different outfits to earlier in the tournament following complaints about the crop tops and short skirts they were wearing, with the ball boys in the women's matches wearing polo shirts and baggier shorts.
The size of birthday cakes presented to players was cited as another example of how male and female players were treated differently at the Madrid Open too.
Eventual men's champion Carlos Alcaraz was presented with a three-tier cake to celebrate his 20th birthday following his semi-final win on the Friday.
World No 2 and women's singles champion Aryna Sabalenka, however, was given a single-tier cake after turning 25 on the same day when she did not have a match.