Looking Back at the Madrid Open & Forward to Rome
- racketreportblog
- May 7
- 7 min read
Updated: May 8
Hi loves,
The Madrid Open really didn't disappoint this last fortnight. Some amazing matches, upsets, two deserved champions, all topped off with a nationwide blackout which halted all the action for a whole day. OH THE DRAMA. What more could you want?
Where do we start? With our new champions of course.
Aryna Sabalenka triumphed in Madrid this on Saturday, powering past Coco Gauff in straight sets 6-3 7-6(7-3). This means she has become only the second player, alongside Petra Kvitova, to be a three- time winner in Madrid. A wonderful achievement for a player we all indisputably love (and if you don't you are WRONG. Sorry not sorry xoxo). Admittedly, I did not see any of this match - and I have a little rant about this so sit down, strap in and get ready for the ride. SO, in joint ATP and WTA tournaments, some of the biggest in the calendar, most of the time the WTA final is on the Saturday and the ATP final on the Sunday. This is becoming increasingly annoying for me because I am usually out and about on a Saturday; particularly late afternoon/evening. So when the final starts at 4 or 5 pm I see none of it. Obviously the clear solution here is to make my social plans around the tennis, but this is just not an option 99% of the time. With Sky Sports broadcasting the tennis tour in the UK, and their replays and on-demand options not being quite good enough yet (in my opinion, anyway) I have been unable to watch the match in full. I do think this contributes to the sweeping, generalised view of ‘women’s tennis is not as good as men’s’ because people, especially young people who are likely busy on Saturdays, just cannot see the big WTA matches live. Now, I know there is the option to record the match (if you have that ability with your Sky package) but it isn't quite the same as watching it live. I am sure we can all agree on that.
While we are on the topic of Sky and their scheduling, I have another point to make. No matter their opposition or how good the match should be ‘on paper’, it is always the British players who are broadcast on the main tennis channel; even if there is a more exciting match happening elsewhere. I am a Brit, so usually this is fine as I am happy to watch these players. But there are countless other players and storylines who are more exciting, especially on the clay. There at least needs to be commentary on these other, more interesting matches otherwise it feels as if they have been forgotten about or pushed aside. Don’t get me wrong, I do understand why the Brits are being broadcast front and centre (it is British TV after all), and with players like Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper bringing in viewers and potentially getting more people into the sport I am certainly not saying they should take a back seat to other players on the regular. But for arguments sake, what would you prefer to see; Jack Draper battering the world number 250 in less than an hour, or two non-British top 10 players battling it out in an epic? I know that is an extreme example, but I hope it illustrates my point.
But ANYWAY, I feel like I have been a bit grumpy up until now…I blame the weather! So to bring the mood back up, back to the actual tennis. Aryna played brilliantly all week and deserved the title as far as I am concerned. More on Coco in a minute, there is much to discuss…
Caspar Ruud finally got his hands on a Masters1000 winners trophy on his third attempt. And I will tell you what - this one was a brilliant battle and he really did deserve the win. The Norwegian beat out Jack Draper in three sets (7-5, 3-6, 6-4) showing some real grit and determination to push through to the very end. I am very happy for him. he is a player who has had a bit of a rough go of it the last 12-18 months so it is good to see him pushing back to the top. Draper, who is the new world number five (YES WORLD. NUMBER. FIVE!!! I am so proud), ran out of gas at the end unfortunately, looking like he had just gone that little bit too hard too fast. But all credit has to go to Ruud, who served it out perfectly and deservedly got to lift the trophy (and it is a very cool trophy you have to admit). Just a quick note of one of the stats from that final; both players won exactly 99 points each. Tennis’s scoring system gets some criticism from those who do not follow the sport closely, but this is precisely why it is such a unique sport. People ask how is it fair to win the exact same amount of points but have one winner and one loser. But it all comes down to what I see as the key aspect of tennis; it does not matter how many points you win. It matters which points you win.
I want to talk about the 2024 champ for a minute. Swiatek had a scary start to Madrid, being pushed to the very end in her first match by Alex Eala in a repeat of their Miami quarter-final from a month ago. They battled hard, but Swiatek made it through and gave Eala what looked like a very comforting and respectful handshake at the net. I do tend to feel like Iga is all business and doesn’t show her emotional side, or dare I say her ‘human’ side, on the court. But this was a nice moment between the two, and I imagine Swiatek has a huge amount of respect for Eala already. I hope this is a rivalry that continues as Eala inevitably climbs the rankings.
If anyone, and I mean anyone, said to me ‘Coco Gauff will beat Iga Swiatek on clay with a scoreline of 6-1 6-1’ I would think they had had one too many glasses of pinot. So imagine my confusion when I turn on the telly and see that Iga appears to be sobbing under her towel at a change over. I’m thinking ‘what could have happened?’ ‘has she hurt herself?’. No no no. Coco happened. She absolutely tore Iga apart. Admittedly I did not see a set and a half of the match (I do work a 9-5 job and this seriously gets in the way of my tennis-watching time), I turned it on at 6-1 2-0, but from what I did see it simply was not the Pole’s day. Funny bounces, super tight calls, and a warning for an obscenity. On top of that, Coco was getting every ball back and her movement was chef's kiss. On top of that for a player who has really struggled with her consistency on serve the last 18 months or so, Gauff’s stats were outstanding; 90% of first serve points won, only losing two, and 69% of second serve points won. If this was Roland Garros and not Madrid I would be doing a deep dive into these stats and key points, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Also, can we have a moment for Coco’s outfit? GORG!! New Balance, I salute you.
Now, I think I may have mentioned this before. But I have to admit that Swiatek isn’t my favourite player to watch. I am not a fan of the mindset of ‘they are or have been a world number 1 so they’re amazing to watch’ or ‘but they’re a top 5 player you must enjoy watching them’. This makes no sense to me. Is Swiatek the best female clay court player? Undeniably so. But is Swiatek the most entertaining watch? No - not for me. The amount of 6-0 or 6-1 sets she is able to get under her belt is extraordinary, but this inevitably means a one-sided battering. SORRY I KNOW I AM BEING A GRUMP. I just prefer a player with flare, and Swaitek doesn’t have that.
However, Iga is the defending champion in Rome, so am I going to have to get used to seeing her a LOT over the next month with Rome and Roland Garros back-to-back? Absolutely. She did not drop a set on her way to the title last year, so I am once against expecting dominance. A first time match up against either Cocciaretto or Avanesyan awaits her in her round 2 match (she of course has a bye through).
Now the big talking point is undoubtably the home favourite making his 'homecoming' this week. Yes, Jannik Sinner is backk and unless you have been living under a rock it is all you would have heard about recently. Having been banned for the last three months, I am not sure anyone really knows what to expect from Sinner. He was banned from training on any registered courts and with registered players for the duration of his ban until early April meaning he had time to relax and basically go and have a holiday. I am sure he went skiing and showed off his skills. He has come out and said his expectations are incredibly low going into Rome, and his first opponent since his last match all the way back in January when he lifted the Australian Open trophy will be either be Argentine Mario Navone or young Italian wildcard Federico Cina, an 18 year-old from Palermo. Navone is a good clay court player so if he gets through and comes out strong then Sinner could struggle to find that initial form he is looking for if challenged early, and that could be the same for Cina too - but I have to say I have not seen him, or even heard of him, before! You do imagine the experience could be overwhelming for him, although I hope he gives his first round match a good go regardless!
Some matches I will be looking forward to: J Fearnley v F Fognini (and a second round between the winner and Berrettini...)
L Tien v R Opelka
L Nardi v F Cobolli (and a second round between the winner and De Minaur)
K Boulter v A Pavlyuchenkova
A Eala v M Kostyuk
M Sakkari v B Bencic
So that is my recap of Madrid and a little look ahead to Rome.
OH! AND FINALLY, I HAVE SOME NEWS! We have launched our own X (formerly Twitter for those of you who refuse to call it X, like me) account! If you give @TheRacketReport a search then we should come up. How exciting! Another place for me to spout more random bits and bobs, aren’t you lucky.
Until next time, keep serving!
E x
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