20 fateful hours marred the most anticipated sessions of the Madrid Open | Relief

Daniil Medvedev hated clay for years, saying it was a place where he could not be happy. Since he is a somewhat wild Russian, he did this violently to express his concern as clearly as possible. The curious thing is that he is now the best player on the Madrid team, the only Grand Slam winner and the likely favorite. Partly because he managed to find a better version of himself in the brick dust, but perhaps in this particular case too. InformationHis fiercest rivals seem to fall without a fight..

The sports spectacle left without even arriving. The second Thursday morning should be fun, this is one of the highest results in such a tournament, but right now It was a shitty session which only saves a good match between Swiatek and Keys. Before that, only two men’s doubles matches will be held on the central court, which, as often happens, will bring together unknown players and will generate almost no interest. If you’re interested, Jaime Murray and Michael Venus will play against Doumbia and Reboul

in the first game and Lammons and Withrow will face Behar and Pablasek Next. A few hours during which it makes more sense to go to Caja Mágica for shopping and eating than to go to a big show.

To get here, from Tuesday to Wednesday, I had to spend 20 hours that were catastrophic for the interests of the tournament. First, at dawn Nadal lost, and although he was not at this party He is always the headliner and the maximum attraction for subscribers. The next day it was Alcaraz’s turn, who lost to Rublev. He arrived in Madrid shocked, and two three-set matches in a row are too much, he no longer has the strength to do more, and he, too, is already on his way to Rome, the next step.

The problem is that a few minutes after he left Sinner also dropped out of the tournament. In his case, it was due to discomfort in his hip that was getting worse every day. The elimination of Alcaraz, which could have caused problems in the Roland Garros rankings, did not stop him from making his decision. Since winning Madrid and Barcelona last year, the Spaniard has fallen quite a bit. He could even be surpassed by Medvedev if he beats Legecka. His exit from the tournament will take Felix Auger-Aliassime into the penultimate round, who is not very consistent and does not have a good relationship with the clay.

The calendar gets more complicated

They are number two and three in the world who won’t survive the weekend. That one, Djokovic, didn’t even sign up for the draw. He The Serb has been choosing his fights more carefully for some time now.. His battle is no longer so much with the calendar as with the physical, and like a good patrician of tennis, he can allow himself to prepare by thinking only about the big four, the Olympics and, in fact, everything he wants.

The women’s team is still quite alive, but the boys, in whom the most excitement is usually concentrated, are doing quite a bit worse. ANDLast year there was a semi-final between Struff and Grenier. which was very far from the duel fans wanted. Madrid, like Rome, Indian Wells and Miami, has grown up on the calendar. Now they last almost two weeks, and it helps to reduce the load a little on these days because they get more rest, but it also has its problems. Players now spend more time away from home. and this implies long periods of travel and boredom. Everything influences them to decide to quit some of them.

Rybakina, a semi-finalist in the Madrid tournament, explained this after meeting Putintseva: “I was insensitive and just tried to do what I had to do.” She blames tournaments, which are getting longer. “I’m very tired, it wasn’t easy, these tournaments are very long and that doesn’t help.. If you’re good, you don’t mind playing every day, but you’re here for ten days, and when you’re done, you have to go to another mandatory tournament,” he commented.

These are changing times in tennis and all the players want the same thing they always want: more, more, more and more. More circulation, more games, more days to sell tickets, let the circus never stop. And Rybakina herself, the same confused one, knows that this is so: “I’m not here to complain about it, I make good money.”