ATP/WTA: After Balloon d’Or Scandal: Andy Murray beside himself

DJ Martin Solveig caused a scandal at the award ceremony with a sexist question. That’s what Andy Murray’s been calling out to us now.

Solveig had asked Norwegian footballer Ada Hegerberg whether she could also “twerken”, i.e. have a dance style that makes you wiggle your ass provocatively. Hegerberg said “No” – and left the stage.

Since 1956, the magazine France Football has presented the award for the World Player of the Year, and for the first time this year also honoured the best female footballer of the year – 23-year-old Hegerberg from Olympique Lyon.

In the social media, the DJ’s derailment caused horror, including with Andy Murray, who repeatedly advocates women’s sports and equality. “What do women still have to listen to such filth? What did they ask Mbappé and Modric? Probably something to do with football,” wrote the Scotsman. “And all those who believe that this is being overdramatized and was just a joke… It’s not like that. I’ve been involved in sports all my life and the level of sexism is unreal.”

Solveig has now apologized and blamed some of his poor English skills on his own. “I’m not inviting women to dance to a song by Sinatra. People who have been following me for 20 years know how respectfully I treat women in particular,” twittered Solveig.

He had also apologized to Hegerberg. She understood that everything was meant as a joke.

Hegerberg himself could not quite understand the excitement anyway. “I didn’t feel that way and it makes me sad when people think about this situation that way,” she said after the show. “He apologized to me. The Balloon d’Or is the most important thing for me anyway.”