A tournament with sabor at Grand Slam

It’s not a Grand Slam, but the Mutua Madrid Open is getting closer and closer to it. In this edition, the tournament in the Spanish capital debuts a new format, both in duration and in the number of players. The Caja Mágica now offers two whole weeks of pure tennis (13 days of final draws plus one prior), while in 2022 there were ‘only’ eight days of men’s and ten days of women’s final draw.

The number of participants also increases notably: it goes from the 56 tennis players of other years in each table to the 96 nowmuch closer to the 128 that compete in a major. The number of rounds rises to seven, as in a Grand Slam, although the 32-seeded skip the first and therefore must win six matches to win the title, one more than last year.

The Mutua becomes big, and there are only four tournaments in the world with these characteristics (So ​​are Indian Wells, Miami and Rome, all of them Masters 1,000 and WTA 1,000). For this, the figures behind the event are consistent with its magnitude: there are 136 line judges, 250 ball boys, 150 security workers, 250 access controllers, 100 official cars and 20 buses with 160 drivers, 90 pisteros , a medical service of 90 professionals, 20,000 Dunlop ATP balls (5,000 cans of four balls) and 20,000 Dunlop Fort Clay Court balls for WTA (same cans), 2,000 court towels and as many shower towels… Some dizzying numbers that show the commitment that the Mutua Madrid Open has to grow, and it is succeeding.