Russia’s Daniil Medvedev returns the ball against United States’ Brandon Nakashima during the Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Russia’s Daniil Medvedev returns the ball against United States’ Brandon Nakashima during the Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Russia’s Daniil Medvedev returns the ball against United States’ Brandon Nakashima during the Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Norway’s Casper Ruud returns the ball to United States’ Taylor Fritz during the Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
United States’ Taylor Fritz wipes his brow during his match against Norway’s Casper Ruud during the Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Madrid Open players took blackout in stride, enjoyed time away from cellphones
MADRID (AP) 鈥 Many of the tennis players who endured the power outage that brought Spain and Portugal to a standstill and disrupted the Madrid Open tournament on Monday said they actually enjoyed some of their time off the grid.
Russia’s Daniil Medvedev returns the ball against United States’ Brandon Nakashima during the Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
MADRID (AP) 鈥 Many of the tennis players who endured the power outage that brought Spain and Portugal to a standstill and disrupted the Madrid Open tournament on Monday said they actually enjoyed some of their time off the grid.
A total of 22 matches had to be postponed because of the several-hours-long blackout that affected most of Spain and Portugal. Play resumed Tuesday with a packed scheduled and players talking about how they coped without power and cellphone connection.
鈥淚t was fine,鈥 10th-ranked Daniil Medvedev said. 鈥淚 tried a couple of times in my life to use my phone less, but you can鈥檛 because you have to do a bank transfer, you have your coach calling you, your wife, your kids. You are going to lose the connection. When I am not with my wife, she calls me so I can talk to the kids.鈥
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The power went off at about noon and was only restored late at night in most parts of Madrid. Players and fans were told to leave the Caja Magica tennis complex after organizers postponed all remaining matches for the day.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not really possible, but once you don鈥檛 have the opportunity (to use your phone), I loved it,” Medvedev said. 鈥淲e had a great sandwich dinner, because there was no hot food ... We were just enjoying and in the end, it was perfect timing. Around 10:30 p.m. the power was on, a small time on the phone, and then go to bed. It was perfect.鈥
World No. 6 Jack Draper said he was 鈥渁ctually enjoying鈥 the time to 鈥渇ocus on what is important.鈥
鈥淚鈥檓 a bit of a minimalist,鈥 he said. “Everyone was panicking, but it was so nice to actually have no phone and none of the other (stuff) going on in the world, and just try and focus on what is important. I ended up reading 10 pages of a book. Usually I don鈥檛 read at all, so it was interesting.鈥
Women’s second-ranked Iga Swiatek said she 鈥渏ust chilled and used that time to not think about what I should do.鈥
鈥淭here was no signal, so basically no one used their phones,” she said. “It was nice, I liked it.鈥
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Swiatek said tournament organizers handled the situation adequately, helping players in a difficult situation.
鈥淗onestly, who would have predicted that, you know? I鈥檓 sure no one,鈥 she said.
World No. 4 Taylor Fritz jokingly offered some advice to solve the problem.
鈥淗ave they tried unplugging and plugging it back in?鈥 the American player said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
鈥淒on鈥檛 mind this off the grid thing,鈥 Australian player Alex de Minaur, No. 7 in the world, wrote on X, along with a series of emojis. 鈥淥n the 3rd walk (of) the day and finally got some service to check on the rest of the world.鈥
His fianc茅e, world No. 40 Katie Boulter, quickly responded: 鈥淚magine blaming a country blackout for not texting me back all day. Elite behavior,鈥 she wrote, also along with emojis.
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