The Madrid Open dived into darkness as the Spanish power cuts are causing delays across sport, travel and everyday life.
World ranked number 62, Fernando Romboli got stuck in a lift during the Madrid open as a result of the sever power outage. The Spanish government were not shy in declaring this a national emergency.
Monday’s madness led to the tennis action getting suspended, with play returning to normal today (Tuesday 29th April). The scoreboards, Electric Line Calling and the SkyCam all stopped working as the Manoto Santana Stadium lost power along with the rest of Spain and Portugal. 22 games were cancelled on Monday.
Simple things that many would not think about during sports games and the lack of electricity is the lack of facilities. Coco Gauff said: “So far, the toughest thing has been not been 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.”
Fortunately, things are now returning to normal with the stacked tennis matches being played today to get rid of the backlog.
Written by Lex Wormald.