Photo credit: www.bbc.com

Power Outage Interrupts Madrid Open Matches

Mirra Andreeva was preparing to serve for a chance to advance to the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open when an unforeseen power outage struck.

This widespread blackout affected millions across Spain, Portugal, and parts of France, resulting in significant disruption in various regions.

At the tennis tournament, the failure of the electronic line-calling system left both players and the chair umpire to make line calls manually, while the scoreboards ceased functioning altogether.

Meanwhile, on the main court, Britain’s Jacob Fearnley was set to serve against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov when the ‘spider cam’ hovering above the court obstructed their view, complicating the match further.

Despite the chaotic circumstances, Andreeva managed to secure her victory, though she recounted the tension of the moment, stating, “It was 15-40 on my serve and I was like, Oh, Mirra, just please, please do everything in your power to just take this game and finish this match.”

In Spain’s capital, the power outage also led to a loss of traffic signals and halted train services. Brazilian doubles player Fernando Romboli shared his experience on Instagram, revealing that he was trapped in a lift at the tournament for half an hour due to the outage.

Fearnley and Dimitrov were forced to leave the court with the match at a precarious 6-4, 5-4 in favor of Dimitrov, while Andreeva, along with Coco Gauff and Italian player Matteo Arnaldi, managed to finish their matches.

Gauff expressed her frustrations following her match, commenting, “So far, the toughest thing has been not being able to shower after my match. There’s no running water so I just had to take baby wipes and wipe myself, spray some perfume and call it a day. It’s just crazy how much we depend on electricity. It’s really insane.”

Source
www.bbc.com