A widespread power outage struck Madrid on Monday afternoon, right as Mirra Andreeva was serving for her match at the Mutua Madrid Open. “It was 15-40 on my serve,” Andreeva later recounted to reporters. “I was like, `Oh, Mirra, please — please — do everything in your power to take this game and finish the match.` Because I knew that if it would go to 5-5 probably we would have to wait and I would be here yet.”
Coco Gauff had already defeated Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-2 and was in the midst of her on-court interview when her microphone died. Security quickly ushered her back to the players’ lounge.
“It was pitch-black,” Gauff described. “I got the gist that the power went out. I thought it was just us and then I realized it was the whole country – that’s just insane.”
The outage wasn`t limited to Spain but affected millions across much of Europe, initially linked to issues with the European electric grid.
Consequently, Andreeva, who completed her 6-1, 6-4 win over Yuliia Starodubtseva (with the chair umpire manually calling lines after the automated system failed), and Gauff were the only players to reach the Mutua Madrid Open quarterfinals on Monday as planned. They are now set to face each other later in the week.
Reflecting on their last clay-court meeting at Roland Garros in 2023, Andreeva said, “The first set was tight, but the rest of the match was like ehhh. She didn’t give me a chance.” She added, “But it was two years ago, so I’m just super excited to not take revenge but to see how different I play. I think it’s going to be an entertaining match.” Andreeva reaches the quarterfinals in Madrid for the second consecutive year. “This year, [I`m] going to try to advance further,” she stated, vowing, “I’m going to do everything possible to win this.”
While the city outside the venue descended into chaos with widespread disruptions to internet, transport, and airports, a unique sense of camaraderie emerged among the players due to the shared experience. “Everyone is using their phones as flashlights,” Andreeva commented, noting, “but it’s also kind of fun because everyone is talking together, the atmosphere is a little bit more friendly.”
Gauff echoed the sentiment: “I was literally thinking the same thing. Most of the time we’re trying to prepare for our matches, everyone’s zoned in and we all understand that.” She mentioned talking to fellow players like Frances Tiafoe, Mirra Andreeva, Diana Shnaider, and Madison Keys during the unexpected delay. “This is the type of situation,” Gauff explained, “it’s light-hearted, nobody knows when they’re going to go on.”
“This is my first blackout,” said Andreeva, who found amusement in the situation and had a book and Uno cards to pass the time. “It’s actually kind of exciting because I’ve never experienced anything like this,” she added, expressing relief. “I’m super happy that they put me first so I got to finish everything on time.” She concluded, “But I don’t want to spend the night here and sleep in the gym, but we’re going to see what they tell us and just go from there.”
Not all players were as fortunate; Grigor Dimitrov`s match against qualifier Jacob Fearnley was suspended in Manolo Santana Stadium while Dimitrov was serving for the win.
“That’s tennis, that’s life,” Gauff remarked. “I feel like at this point this is only a situation you can laugh at if I was on court. Because it’s probably not going to happen ever again and we’ll always remember the day the power went out at Madrid Open.”
Ironically, Gauff had requested to play later on Monday. “But I’m glad that request didn’t go through,” she said with a laugh, adding, “Shoutout to the WTA supervisors for making the right decision for me.”
Gauff joked that her biggest immediate problem was the lack of a post-match shower. “There’s no running water,” she explained, “so I just had to take baby wipes and wipe myself and spray some perfume and call it a day.” She also noted the potential difficulty in returning to the hotel due to non-functional traffic lights.
“It’s just crazy how much we depend on electricity, it’s really insane and puts it in perspective,” Gauff reflected. “Also makes me think about the humans before electricity and how impressive that is.”
