After she and her fellow doubles finalists were denied the opportunity to give presentation statements, Jessica Pegula attacked the Madrid Open's management.
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Beatriz Haddad and Victoria Azarenka On Sunday, Maia defeated Americans Pegula and Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4.
Following their matches, the winners of the men's doubles and singles competitions all addressed the fans.
Pegula, 29, remarked, "I don't know what century everyone was living in when they made that decision.
"Or how they talked it over and determined, 'Wow, this is a terrific move and there's going to be no pushback against this.
"I never heard we wouldn't be able to converse in my life. It was really depressing. If the prize was $10,000, you would speak.
It was self-evident. When that happened, we were unhappy and informed that we couldn't speak during the award presentation. It sort of supported a claim.
Azarenka of Belarus claimed it was "hard to explain" to her little son Leo why she couldn't speak to him during a victory speech.
In his tweet, Gauff added, "Twitter format doesn't allow me to say everything I would've said during the speech if we had one."
Ons Jabeur, the seventh-ranked player in the world and a tournament spectator from Tunisia, called it "sad and unacceptable" that the players were silenced.
When asked Sport for an explanation, the Madrid Open's organizers responded, "The tournament will not comment on the matter."
The Madrid Open awards the same amount in prize money for ATP and WTA competitions, with singles champions taking home just under £1 million and doubles champions splitting £330,000.
Third-ranked in the world in singles, Pegula and Gauff split £176,000 as the winners.
Why Madrid Open is being criticized as being'sexist'
At the clay-court competition, one of the most renowned outsides of the four Grand Slams, the event led to more sexism allegations.
After concerns about the crop tops and short skirts the ball ladies for the men's matches wore throughout the remainder of the tournament, they changed their attire for Sunday's final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jan-Lennard Struff.
In contrast to the ball girls, the ball boys for the women's matches wore longer shorts and baggier polo shirts.
Another event that was used as an illustration of how female athletes were treated differently from male athletes included birthday cakes.
Alcaraz, the second-ranked player in the world from Spain, received a three-tier cake for his birthday on Friday after winning his semi-final on centre court.
Sabalenka, the second-ranked player in the world from Belarus who won the title on Saturday, celebrated her 25th birthday on Friday when she was free from competition.
Two-time major champion Azarenka responded on Friday to a tweet from a fan who called the disparity in cakes "astounding" and "misogyny" and said: "Couldn't be more accurate on the treatment."
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Director of the Madrid Open Feliciano Lopez defended the choice and claimed to be "surprised" by her response.
When the other women's finalists and Azarenka were informed there would be no remarks on Sunday, he was positioned behind them.
There was a lot of drama in Madrid this year, on a range of different topics, according to Pegula, a member of the WTA Players' Council. There was a great deal of tension, which grew worse. That didn't make things any better.
Regarding the bigger problems during the Madrid event, she stated: "The final purpose of all the drama is to find answers. This must be corrected because it cannot happen again.
The WTA, the organization in charge of overseeing the women's circuit, has not offered any comments.
