Jessica Pegula won the title in Dubai last night, as she confidently pushed past Elina Svitolina in the final.
It was a fine end to a phenomenal week for the world number five, who secured her fourth WTA 1000-level trophy in style.
However, Rennae Stubbs, who was watching on, was left somewhat irked by the event.
Her frustration was not aimed at the players or even the tennis they played during the final.
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Instead, the player turned pundit was heavily critical of how the post-match championship speech was conducted.
Rennae Stubbs’ issue with the Dubai final trophy presentation
Taking to X, the Aussie began by making a broader point, based on what she had seen from the Dubai Tennis Championships.
She wrote: “When are these tournaments going to just let the winner and runner-up speak at the microphone and not ask questions!! drives me crazy!! Let them thank their team, thank the sponsors, thank the crowd, etc. don’t ask questions.”
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Stubbs then replied to a comment that argued against her, offering her verdict from a player’s perspective.
She added: “As a former player in this situation I can tell you, there is not 1 player that prefers this! Because they don’t get to say what they want after busting their butts all week AND they might NOT understand the Q because of language barriers. This should always be about them, Period!”
This comes just over a month after Rennae Stubbs told Taylor Fritz to get a new coach if he ever wanted to challenge Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
Jessica Pegula’s run to the title in Dubai
Whilst Stubbs may have taken issue with how the trophy ceremony was conducted in Dubai, Jessica Pegula will likely not have minded.
After all, all that will have mattered to her was getting her hands on that trophy.
She kickstarted her campaign with a powerful win over Varvara Gracheva, and followed that up with another routine victory against rising star Iva Jovic.
Clara Tauson caused the 32-year-old some trouble, but was defeated in a three-set thriller, before Amanda Anisimova suffered a similar fate in the semifinals.
Pegula had saved arguably her best performance for last though, dismantling Svitolina in the final.
