New Delhi: The Madrid Open tennis tournament was struck with a major power outage on Monday, reportedly affecting areas across Spain and Portugal, bringing play to a sudden halt. The unexpected cut hit just after midday, at 12:34 pm local time, leaving players and fans in temporary darkness.
According to the ATP Tour, two singles matches and one doubles match were actively underway when the lights went out. The tournament quickly issued a statement via X, acknowledging the disruption: “The #MMOPEN has been affected by the general power outage, we are working to restore normality as soon as possible. We will keep you informed through our social media channels.”
El #MMOPEN se ha visto afectado por el apagón eléctrico general, estamos trabajando para restablecer la normalidad lo antes posible.
Iremos informando puntualmente a través de las redes sociales. pic.twitter.com/5Zoimkz65S
— #MMOPEN (@MutuaMadridOpen) April 28, 2025
Spain’s Transmission System Operator (TSO), Red Electrica de España, also took to X to address the situation, confirming the widespread nature of the issue. Their statement read, “Protocols have been activated to restore the electricity supply in collaboration with companies in the sector, after the outage that occurred in the Iberian Peninsula’s system. The causes are being analysed, and every resource is being dedicated to solving the issue. We will continue to report on the situation.”
The timing was particularly unfortunate for Grigor Dimitrov, who was comfortably leading Jacob Fearnley 6-4, 5-4 on the main stadium court when play stopped. The match between Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi and Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina was also suspended with Arnaldi ahead 6-3, 3-2. Interestingly, they were later able to resume and complete their match, with Arnaldi securing the win 6-3, 6-4.
Just before the outage plunged the courts into darkness, two fourth-round women’s matches had managed to conclude. Coco Gauff defeated Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-2, and Mirra Andreeva beat Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-1, 6-4. Gauff even shared a glimpse of the surreal situation, posting an Instagram story showing only an emergency light cutting through the gloom of a darkened locker room.
What next?
For the spectators on site, the sudden darkness meant navigating with phone torches, a strange scene for a major sporting event. A significant delay would naturally create a backlog in the tournament schedule. However, with the Madrid Open being a two-week event, there is thankfully some built-in flexibility to reschedule matches if needed. As of 2:15 pm local time, nearly two hours after the initial cut, play had not yet resumed, leaving everyone waiting for the power and the tennis to return.
During the round of 32 match between Dimitrov and Fearnley at the Manolo Santana Stadium, the play was halted with Dimitrov leading 6-4, 5-4 after a spidercam was found hanging too close to the court. Tennis Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
