{"id":82938,"date":"2025-04-28T23:28:31","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T03:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=82938"},"modified":"2025-04-28T23:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T03:30:00","slug":"no-electricity-no-party-blackout-cancels-play-at-the-mutua-madrid-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/04\/28\/no-electricity-no-party-blackout-cancels-play-at-the-mutua-madrid-open\/","title":{"rendered":"No Electricity, No Party: Blackout Cancels Play at the Mutua Madrid Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s play<\/a>. The blackout affected all of Spain, as well as parts of Portugal and southern France.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 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,\u201d read the official statement from the tournament.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s take a step back to see how it all unfolded.<\/p>\n

\n

Por motivos ajenos a la organizaci\u00f3n y para garantizar la seguridad, el apag\u00f3n general que ha afectado a Espa\u00f1a este lunes 28 de abril, obliga a suspender tanto la sesi\u00f3n de d\u00eda como de noche en el Mutua Madrid Open.#MMOPEN<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2022\u2014
\nFor reasons beyond the control of the\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/zjPJP2h5i7<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 #MMOPEN (@MutuaMadridOpen) April 28, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What happened in Madrid<\/h2>\n

The day had actually started as planned, with a few women\u2019s matches wrapping up without problems. Andreeva<\/a> and Gauff<\/a> both advanced in straight sets, defeating Starodubtseva and Bencic respectively.<\/p>\n

It was during Gauff\u2019s post-match interview that the blackout hit. The microphone suddenly cut out, and the LED screens behind Coco went dark, abruptly ending the interview.<\/p>\n

On the men\u2019s side, Grigor Dimitrov<\/a> was on his way to a routine win when Fearnley saved a match point late in the second set \u2014 just before the major outage took full effect.<\/p>\n

Their match couldn\u2019t resume due to technical difficulties, with the spider cam stuck in a problematic position that made continuing unsafe.<\/p>\n

The only exception was the Arnaldi-Dzumhur match<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

An inevitable decision<\/h3>\n

Around 2 PM local time, organizers posted an update on social media:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n