The widespread power outage in Spain and Portugal wreaked havoc at the Madrid Open on Monday. Matches were suspended and later cancelled, though players remained on-site and feared they would have to spend the night at the Caja Magica.
Those on the grounds have now shed light on the chaos at the tournament. One athlete got stuck in a lift while others ate their lunch by candlelight, with the player areas left in total darkness.
There was confusion when the power suddenly failed less than two hours into the day at the Madrid Open. Coco Gauff was giving an on-court interview after booking her spot in the quarter-final when the microphone cut out and the stadium went dark.
On the biggest showcourt, the Manolo Santana Stadium, British No. 2 Jacob Fearnley’s match was suspended while he was serving to stay in the match against 15th seed Grigor Dimitrov.
The three biggest courts and most of the concessions stands for spectators are located inside the Caja Magica – also known as the Magic Box – which was plunged into darkness. Fans on the grounds had to use their phone torches to get around and food stalls went to a cash-only system.
A few hours later, tournament organisers confirmed all matches on the schedule had been cancelled due to the blackout, suggesting that spectators go home if they could. But players remained on-site and were left in bizarre situations.
Doubles world No. 62 Fernando Romboli took to Instagram to share that he was trapped in a lift. The Brazilian got in moments before the power went out across Madrid and said he spent “30 minutes stuck in the elevator”.
He posted another video showing maintenance men forcing the doors open as he climbed out.
Sky Sports pundit Gigi Salmon shared what she had seen around the grounds. “I spoke to a number of players. Players at the hotel were told not to come on site, players on site were told not to leave,” she explained.
The power outage meant the electronic line calling system and scoreboards could not be used. However, there were other hidden issues during the blackout.
Salmon added: “Simple things like they couldn’t get rackets strung and there was no power in the showers. They couldn’t make their way out onto the practice courts and they were eating their food by candlelight.”
World No. 7 Mirra Andreeva, who played the last few points of her match with the chair umpire calling the lines when the blackout hit, feared she would have to spend the night sleeping in the gym. Not ideal considering her 18th birthday is on Tuesday.
After winning her match in the nick of time, Gauff revealed that there was no running water in the locker room and she couldn’t shower after her match. The world No. 4 initially thought she would not be able to go back to her hotel.
But she later posted a video on her Instagram story, revealing that she did finally leave, resorting to walking back to her hotel after getting into a car that cold barely move.
In the caption, Gauff added: “Traffic lights don’t work lol we got out the car after 1 hour and 45 mins slowly moving and just walked to the hotel.”