A sudden and widespread power outage hit Madrid on Monday afternoon, plunging the Mutua Madrid Open into darkness and halting play. Only a handful of matches were completed before the disruption, notably those involving Mirra Andreeva and Coco Gauff, who managed to finish just in time.
Mirra Andreeva was serving for her match when the lights went out. Recounting the moment, she told reporters, “It was 15-40 on my serve. I thought, `Oh, Mirra, please – *please* – use all your strength to win this game and end the match.` I knew that if the score went to 5-5, we`d likely face a delay and I`d still be stuck here.” Andreeva ultimately secured her 6-1, 6-4 victory over Yuliia Starodubtseva, with the chair umpire having to call the lines manually after the electronic system failed.
Coco Gauff had already wrapped up her 6-4, 6-2 win against Belinda Bencic and was conducting her on-court interview when the microphone stopped working. Security staff promptly moved her to the players` lounge.
“Everything went completely dark, and I quickly understood the power was gone,” Gauff stated. “Initially, I thought it was just our area, but then I learned it affected the entire country – that`s truly unbelievable.”
The outage turned out to affect not just Spain, but large parts of Europe, impacting millions. The initial cause wasn`t clear, but early reports suggested problems with the European power grid.
Consequently, Andreeva and Gauff were the only players to successfully advance to the Mutua Madrid Open quarterfinals on schedule. They are now set to face each other later in the week. Andreeva commented on their previous meeting:
“The last time we played on clay was at Roland Garros in 2023. The first set was close, but the rest of the match wasn`t great for me. She didn`t give me any openings. But that was two years ago, so I`m really looking forward to it, not for revenge, but to see how my game has changed. I expect it to be an exciting match.”
This marks Andreeva`s second consecutive year reaching the Madrid quarterfinals. “This year, I aim to go further,” she added. “I`ll do everything I can to win.”
While the city outside faced widespread disruption, with internet, trains, and airports affected, a sense of camaraderie emerged among the players due to their shared experience inside the venue.
“Everyone was using their phone flashlights,” Andreeva observed, “but it was also quite enjoyable because everyone was talking together, creating a slightly friendlier atmosphere.”
Gauff echoed this sentiment: “I was thinking exactly the same thing. Usually, everyone is focused and preparing for their matches, and we all respect that. But I found myself chatting with Frances [Tiafoe], Mirra, Diana [Shnaider], and Maddy [Keys]. This kind of situation is light-hearted. Nobody had any idea when they might resume playing.”
For Andreeva, the blackout was a new experience. “This is my first blackout,” she said, mentioning she was glad to have a book and Uno cards to pass the time. “It`s actually quite exciting because I`ve never gone through anything like this before. I`m really happy they scheduled my match early so I could finish everything on time. But I definitely don`t want to stay here overnight and sleep in the gym,” she added, “though we`ll just have to wait and see what they decide.”
Not all players were as fortunate. Grigor Dimitrov, for example, was serving for his match against qualifier Jacob Fearnley when play was suspended due to the outage.
“That`s tennis, that`s life,” Gauff remarked. “At this point, it`s a situation you can only laugh at, especially if you were on court. It`s probably a once-in-a-lifetime event, and we`ll always remember the day the power failed at the Madrid Open.”
Interestingly, Gauff revealed she had requested the organizers on Sunday to schedule her match second. “But I`m thankful that request wasn`t granted,” she said with a laugh. “Kudos to the WTA supervisors for making the right scheduling call in my case.”
She joked that the biggest inconvenience initially was not being able to take a post-match shower. “There was no running water, so I had to use baby wipes to clean up,” Gauff explained, “then just put on some perfume and accept it. I`m not even sure if we`ll be able to get back to the hotel because the traffic lights aren`t working.”
“It`s truly astonishing how much we rely on electricity,” she reflected. “It`s completely wild and gives you perspective. It also makes you think about how impressive people were before electricity existed.”
