A massive power outage, with an unknown cause, has suspended play at the 2025 Mutua Madrid Open on Monday. This outage extends through Portugal, France, and Spain.
Corridors and stairwells inside the stadium went black. Tennis relies on electronic scorekeeping and line calling, making it impossible for players to continue even in daylight hours.
This is the second Monday of the tournament and a big one on the schedule, every discipline: men’s singles and doubles, and women’s singles and doubles are in action.
Coco Gauff‘s Round of 16 match win over Belinda Bencic was completed. However, when the audio of her on-court interview went out, it was an ominous hint of what was coming.
Coco Gauff’s reaction to the mic malfunctioning after her win over Bencic in Madrid 😂
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) April 28, 2025
Gauff is one of the lucky ones who finished her match, as did her upcoming quarterfinal opponent, Mirra Andreeva. The two are slated to play on Wednesday, Andreeva’s 18th birthday.
Mutua Madrid Open Schedule
If the power outage continues, players could play two matches per day or more if they are in doubles.
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
It is unclear if a palatable option would be to extend the tournament to allow appropriate rest between rounds.
Two Arguments Revived
Though the power outage has no known cause, its impact on the tennis schedule revives two recent arguments.
One is the two-week ATP/WTA 1000 tournaments. There are pros and cons, but a two-week tournament, outside of Grand Slams, makes the tennis schedule even tighter. Extending the Mutua Madrid Open pushes into Italian Open preparation and travel. A one-week tournament has slightly more wiggle room to extend if needed.
The other is the reliance on electronics for the matches. The lines people are gone, so on-court ball calls cannot happen. Serves are also now electronically called, which has been an issue in the clay court season. Aryna Sabalenka and Alexander Zverev have taken pictures of ball marks to prove the electronic calls were not correct.
