All eyes are on the top seeds at the Caja Magica
©A.Warmuth / PanoramicIt’s that time of the year again where the tennis tour touches down in Madrid for some jamon, pulpo and two weeks of top-notch WTA and ATP tennis.
This edition of the Mutua Madrid Open features expanded 96-player draws. The women’s main draw action kicked off on Tuesday, while the men’s event began on Wednesday. All 32 seeds in each draw were handed first-round byes.
Here’s a look at some of the biggest storylines to look out for at the Caja Magica this fortnight.
While there is no shortage of star power in Madrid this year, the tournament has been struck by some high-profile withdrawals.
Five-time Madrid champion Rafael Nadal and three-time winner Novak Djokovic both pulled out with the former still nursing a hip injury and the latter sustaining an elbow problem.
Tunisian Ons Jabeur announced she is unable to defend her title due to a small tear in her calf, which she suffered during her semi-final against Iga Swiatek in Stuttgart last week.
Meanwhile, in-form players Jannik Sinner (illness) and Belinda Bencic (hip) have also been ruled out.
It’s a bit of a case of déjà vu for Carlos Alcaraz. This time last year, the Spanish teenager arrived in Madrid with a 23-3 win-loss record for the season and three titles under his belt, including Barcelona, which he won on the eve of the tournament.
Alcaraz went on to become the youngest ATP champion in the history of the Madrid Open, and he did it by defeat three of the world’s top four (Alexander Zverev, Djokovic, Nadal) in his last three rounds.
This year, Alcaraz enters Madrid with a 23-2 record for the season, three trophies won within the last three months, and a successful title defence in Barcelona on Sunday.
The 19-year-old says he is feeling 100 percent physically and is excited to impress once again on home soil.
Is another Spanish double in the cards for the Murcian top seed? Sounds like a genuine possibility.
On the women’s side, world No.1 Iga Swiatek is carrying momentum from her title run in Stuttgart last week and will be keen to capture the one big clay title that has eluded her so far.
The 21-year-old Pole missed Madrid last year and has only played it once, in 2021, where she fell to Ashleigh Barty in the round of 16.
Swiatek has lost just twice on clay since that defeat to Barty two years ago and the reigning Roland-Garros champion is undoubtedly the woman to beat this fortnight in the Spanish capital.
She is keeping her expectations in check though.
“Madrid is tricky with the altitude, so I'll see,” Swiatek told WTA Insider.
“I've only played twice at altitude. I may be World No.1 but I don't have as much experience in tennis as you may expect. So I'm just going to see. My coach is a guy with a lot of knowledge. So I'm sure he's going to help me manage that properly and get used to the conditions faster than I did in 2021.”
While the top seeds in Madrid seem to have an edge at the moment, there is still an opportunity to be grabbed in the absence of some big names and with altitude in the Spanish capital presenting a different kind of challenge for most clay lovers.
Former champion and No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka, who lost to Swiatek in the Stuttgart final last Sunday, is an obvious contender and her weapons really come to life in the faster conditions of Madrid.
Last year’s finalist Jessica Pegula has had a solid start to her clay-court campaign, making the semi-finals on green clay in Charleston and will be looking to go one better than her runner-up showing from 2022.
On the men’s side, Holger Rune just defended his title in Munich and made the final in Monte Carlo earlier this month. Andrey Rublev, the man who beat Rune to lift a maiden Masters 1000 crown in Monte Carlo, followed up that milestone victory with a final appearance in Banja Luka.
Stefanos Tsitsipas lost to Alcaraz in the Barcelona final and was runner-up in Madrid in 2019. He'll be eager to step things up ahead of Roland-Garros.
ROLAND-GARROS
20 May - 9 June 2024
