WASHINGTON, April 27, 2020 (by Michael Dickens)
Opening day of the the Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro has arrived and a full slate of 24 group matches, plus two charity matches, are on Monday’s order of play of the four-day tournament. Don’t worry, though, matches will be fast and there’s no threat of weather delays in virtual tennis.
Play commences at 3 p.m. Madrid time (CEST) with Diego Schwartzman facing David Ferrer followed by Carla Suárez Navarro against Belinda Bencic. Then, third on court (not before 3:30 p.m.) will be Rafael Nadal against Denis Shapovalov. Nadal, a five-time Madrid Open champion on the real clay courts, will also play a charity match not before 4 p.m. against YouTube star DjMariio.
In the Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro, everyone will be competing using a PS4 controller and play in a re-creation of Manolo Santana Stadium at Caja Mágica in the video game Tennis World Tour (Nacon Gaming). The tournament continues through Thursday, with Monday and Tuesday competition in round-robin qualifying groups for both men and women. The top two players in each of the four men’s and four women’s groups will advance to a knockout quarterfinal draw on Wednesday with semifinals and finals set for Thursday.
Still not familiar with the format of the #MMOPEN Virtual Pro? 🤔
Allow us to explain everything you should know before it all starts 💪🏻#PlayAtHome 🎮 pic.twitter.com/0aZsjQaXRz
— #MMOPEN (@MutuaMadridOpen) April 26, 2020
Each of the four men’s and women’s groups boasts at least one Grand Slam champion or a former World No. 1.
“We’ve had a great response from all the players,” said tournament director Feliciano Lopez. “From the first moment when the initiative was conceived, they were prepared to help.
“It’s the first virtual tournament. It’ll be a fantastic tournament, the bar is high, the players are ready and it’s certainly going to be spectacular.”
Looks like it’s gonna be a hectic Monday! 😱 What a line-up for the first day of the #MMOPEN Virtual Pro! 😏#PlayAtHome 🎮 pic.twitter.com/if99uOietv
— #MMOPEN (@MutuaMadridOpen) April 25, 2020
The Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro will donate 50,000 euros to the Madrid Food Bank that will help reduce the social impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The tournament includes a total purse of 300,000 euros (split evenly between the ATP and WTA), from which the winners will be able to decide how much they donate to their tour peers, who are currently suffering economically from the coronavirus shut down of the professional tennis tours.
The Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro can be followed in English on the Mutua Madrid Open Facebook page and in Spanish on the PlayStation España Facebook page. It will also be streamed live in the United States on Tennis.com and on the Tennis Channel app.
Where in the world are you? 🌍
Find out what time the day’s play starts at the #MMOPEN Virtual Pro on Monday 27 April in your time zone! ⏰ pic.twitter.com/PSniFOjcmP
— #MMOPEN (@MutuaMadridOpen) April 26, 2020
What they’re writing
While the idea of combined tennis tours has been around for 50 years – since the 1970s – it took Roger Federer making a suggestion on social media last week to boost the idea into the limelight during the global pandemic. In “Could a Merger of Men’s and Women’s Tennis Come Out of This Hiatus,” Christopher Clarey, tennis correspondent for The New York Times, writes: “Combining the tours — a complex and ego-imperiling task that is far from fruition — could create more leverage for unified deals with sponsors, broadcasters and data companies. It could also provide a more coherent experience for fans, who now typically need multiple cable and digital subscriptions to follow the men’s and women’s games. Plus it might streamline the calendar, even if some separate men’s and women’s events remain, and eliminate differences in the rules. (The WTA, for example, allows in-match coaching; the ATP does not.)”
What they’re saying
World No. 2 Simona Halep, interviewed via email by Christopher Clarey, tennis correspondent for The New York Times, has expressed support for an ATP/WTA merger. “Tennis has suffered from there being so many separate organizations in the past, and I believe that we would be stronger together. This global crisis gives us time to think and plan, probably an opportunity that won’t come along again, so I’m interested to hear more about these conversations.”
Behind the Racquet – Elise Mertens
World No. 23 Elise Mertens, born in Leuven, Belgium, started playing tennis when she was four years-old and began entering under-18 events when she was just 13. Now, at age 24 and a professional since 2013, the Belgian No. 1 knows no other life. She says she loves tennis “and wouldn’t do anything else.”
Despite the constant travel that accompanies being a pro tennis player, Mertens confesses in a first-person Behind the Racquet essay, which posted to the Instagram series over the weekend, “It is not easy to always stay motivated away from home.
“I’m just a simple person. I am an animal lover, with a few dogs and turtles at home.” She resides in Harmont-Achel, Belgium, about 119 kilometers northeast of Brussels. “… Sometimes just need a little bit of that home feeling.”
What they’re sharing on social media
Art meets tennis / Rafa Nadal shares an IG Live chat with Roger Federer
The Instagram Live between @RafaelNadal & @rogerfederer is now a work of art 😎👏
🎨: maris.ol (IG) | @rnadalacademy | #tennisathome pic.twitter.com/iPAazzsGz5
— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 26, 2020
WTA Way Back Machine / A look back at Stuttgart 2019
📺 Another Czech 🇨🇿 winner in Stuttgart!
After Karolina Pliskova in 2018, @Petra_Kvitova took the 🏆 in 2019 by beating Kontaveit. #Top5Finals | @PorscheTennis pic.twitter.com/oI23lK5LSe
— wta (@WTA) April 26, 2020
#TennisAtHome / Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas
Who did it better? 😂@AlexZverev | @StefTsitsipas | #tennisathome pic.twitter.com/Fx0AHYYioW
— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 26, 2020