The second week of the Mutua Madrid Open got off to a rocky start, as a massive power outage forced the cancellation of the entire day’s play. The blackout affected all of Spain, as well as parts of Portugal and southern France.
“For reasons beyond the control of the organisation and in order to guarantee general safety, the nationwide power cut experienced in Spain on Monday, 28 April, has forced the cancellation of both the day and night sessions at the Mutua Madrid Open,” read the official statement from the tournament.
But let’s take a step back to see how it all unfolded.
Por motivos ajenos a la organización y para garantizar la seguridad, el apagón general que ha afectado a España este lunes 28 de abril, obliga a suspender tanto la sesión de día como de noche en el Mutua Madrid Open.#MMOPEN
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For reasons beyond the control of the… pic.twitter.com/zjPJP2h5i7— #MMOPEN (@MutuaMadridOpen) April 28, 2025
What happened in Madrid
The day had actually started as planned, with a few women’s matches wrapping up without problems. Andreeva and Gauff both advanced in straight sets, defeating Starodubtseva and Bencic respectively.
It was during Gauff’s post-match interview that the blackout hit. The microphone suddenly cut out, and the LED screens behind Coco went dark, abruptly ending the interview.
On the men’s side, Grigor Dimitrov was on his way to a routine win when Fearnley saved a match point late in the second set — just before the major outage took full effect.
Their match couldn’t resume due to technical difficulties, with the spider cam stuck in a problematic position that made continuing unsafe.
The only exception was the Arnaldi-Dzumhur match, which managed to continue despite the lack of Hawk-Eye Live. Chair umpire Mohammed Layhani had to call all the lines manually, while TV commentators were forced to commentate without visuals, relying only on audio.
An inevitable decision
Around 2 PM local time, organizers posted an update on social media:
“The Mutua Madrid Open 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.”
However, a few hours later, they had no choice but to cancel all matches for the day. Fans, who tried to salvage their day by watching practice sessions or chasing autographs, were eventually asked to leave the site for safety reasons.
Things are expected to return to normal on Tuesday, with a packed schedule of up to 17 singles matches.
Main Photo by Markus Tobisch/SEPA.Media /Getty Images
