MADRID – Former US Open Champion Cocogoff was preparing to take a shower in the dark rocker room after playing in Madrid’s open tennis tournament due to a massive blackout in Spain and Portugal.
Then Gouf realized that the water had also fallen out.
“So I just had to wipe the baby off and wipe myself,” Goff said, “I sprayed my perfume and called it a day.”
Gouf managed to beat 6-4, 6-2 Belinda Bensik shortly before the stop. The 2023 US Open Champion then posted an Instagram story showing only emergency lights that operate in dark locker rooms.
The ATP Tour stated that two singles and one doubles match were ongoing when power was generated at 12:34pm local time (1034 GMT).
“The cut has prevented the use of the electronic line calling system, and there are also spider cams hanging from the courts inside Manolo Santana Stadium,” added ATP.
The tournament organizers said, “We had no choice but to suspend/cancellate all sports activities to ensure the safety of our players, fans and personnel.” They recommended that all spectators leave the sports complex.
The event is scheduled to resume on Tuesday. The draw will be the third match at the top of the draw, and the fourth match will be held at the bottom of the draw.
Grigor Dimitrov was leading Jacob Fianley 6-4, 5-4 inside the main stadium when play stopped. Matteo Arnaldi also led Damir Dzumhur 6-3, 3-2 when play was interrupted. That match followed – apparently on a manual line call – and Arnardo won 6-3, 6-4.
The doubles match was also completed, with some players practicing despite the suspension. Several people remained in the stands.
The blackout caused much of Spain and Portugal to shut down, knocking out subway networks, telephone lines, traffic lights and ATM machines.
Spanish electricity distributor Red Ereclika said that if the outage takes up to 10 hours it will restore electricity to most of the country.
The company refused to speculate on the cause of the blackout.
Gauff posted a photo of the candle being distributed.
“There’s a traffic light so I don’t think I’ll even be able to go back to the hotel,” Goff said. “It’s crazy how much we rely on electricity. It’s really insane and puts that in perspective.”
Another four-round women’s match was also completed before the blackout. Mira Andreva defeated Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-1, 6-4.
“Second-placed Iga Swiatek sat in the dark player’s lounge, talking to members of her team ahead of the scheduled match against Diana Shnaider,” he said.
Swiatek and Shnaider were scheduled to play at the main stadium after the Dimitrov-Fearnley match.
Top ranked Aryna Sabalenka was scheduled to play Peyton Stearns later.
