Tennis tournament ‘forced by authorities’ to kick fans out and play behind closed doors | Tennis | Sport
Organisers at the Estoril Open kicked fans out of the grounds and continued play behind closed doors after being “forced” to do so by “authorities”. A mass power outage hit Spain and Portugal on Monday. Matches at the Masters 1000 event in Madrid were suspended and eventually cancelled.
However, play was able to continue at the Challenger 175 tournament in Estoril, though spectators were asked to leave and players had to compete without any supporters in the stands. Organisers issued a statement confirming the decision.
“Good afternoon, Considering the context, we were forced by the authorities to declare today’s session closed (matches will continue behind closed doors),” it read.
“We appreciate your understanding and hope that tomorrow the country can wake up to the normality we all wish for.”
Monday’s schedule was made up of first-round qualifying matches with plenty of home favourites in action, including wildcards Joao Graca and Francisco Rocha. But the Portuguese players couldn’t benefit from a crowd advantage after fans were sent home.
The main draw in Estoril is stacked, with plenty of top players who lost early at the Madrid Open dropping down to the Challenger Tour to get extra matches and ranking points.
World No. 19 Felix Auger-Aliassime took a last-minute wildcard into the tournament hours after losing his opening match in Madrid last week. The Canadian last played a Challenger event in 2019.
Teenage sensation Joao Fonseca will also be in action in Estoril. The world No. 65 was practising on-site on Monday when the power outage hit.
While qualifying matches could continue in Portugal behind closed doors, play at the Madrid Open had to be cancelled.
“For reasons beyond the control of the organisation and in order to guarantee general safety, the nationwide power-cut experienced in Spain on Monday 28 April has forced the cancellation of both the day and night sessions at the Mutua Madrid Open,” organisers confirmed.
Three Brits were on the singles schedule on Monday, including Jacob Fearnley, whose match against 15th seed Grigor Dimitrov was suspended with Dimitrov leading 6-4 5-4.
Jack Draper and Cameron Norrie had yet to take to the court when the power cut halted play.
World No. 4 Coco Gauff booked her spot in the quarter-final moments before the electricity went out and was giving an on-court interview as the microphone went silent. She later shared footage from the locker room, which was pitch black.
A match between Matteo Arnaldi and Damir Dzumhur was completed on one of the outside courts with the umpire calling all of the lines and manually keeping track of the score after the electronic line calling system went down.
