Preview of the Madrid Open from 5th to 12th May, 2019

The Mutua Madrid Open is Europe’s only ATP Masters 1000 and WTA Premier Mandatory tournament and a huge fixture of the clay court season every year. Spanish players have always featured strongly in the winners circle with Nadal challenging for his 6th title in 2019. The tournament runs over 7 days and features the very best players in the World

The Madrid Open was started as a men’s only event in 2002 when the tournament was classified as one of the ATP Masters Series tournaments. In 2009 the tournament was expanded to include a premier women’s contest and moving to an earlier period of the tennis season to become the second Master’s tournament of the spring European clay court swing (replacing the Hamburg Open) and moving outdoors to Park Manzanares, where a new complex with a retractable-roof equipped main court was constructed, the Caja Magica.

The Caja Mágica is often called the most modern tennis facility in the world. Made completely from iron, wood and glass, it was designed by French architect Dominique Perrault. The name Caja Mágica (Magic box) is due to the resemblance with boxes, which are dynamic and ever changing.

The tournament has always attracted the greatest names in tennis over the past 17 years and the winners list includes such greats as Andre Agassi, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Marat Safin, Andy Murray and David Nalbandian. The 2019 entry list lives up to this billing with Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Juan Martin del Potro, Kei Nishikori and Stefanos Tsitsipas already entered.

Where is the tournament held?

The Mutua Mardid Open is held every year at La Caja Magica

What dates does the tournament run?

Sunday 5th May 2019 until Sunday 12th May 2019

What court surface is the tournament played on?

The surface is outdoor clay courts with all 3 courts having retractable roofs

How many players and how many seeds are in the tournament?

There are a total of 56 men and there will be 16 seeded players in the Men’s singles draws and 64 women with 16 seeds in the Ladies singles draw

What is the prize money and how many ranking points are available?

The mens tournament is an ATP 1000 which means that the winner receives 1000 ATP World Ranking points, with the complete breakdown of points and prize money awarded as follows:

Winner: 1,000 pts & €1,202,520
Finals: 600 pts & €608,700
SF: 360 pts & €312,215
Quarter Finals: 180 pts & €160,920
Round 16: 90 pts & €80,620
Round 32: 45 pts & €42,220
R56: 10 pts & €23,790

The women’s tournament is a WTA Premier Mandatory event which means that the winner receives 1000 WTA Ranking points, with the complete breakdown of points and prize money awarded as follows:

Winner: 1,000 pts & $1,354,010
Finalist: 600 pts & $686,000
SF: 360 pts & $354,000
Quarter Finals: 180 pts & $182,000
Round 16: 90 pts & $91,205
Round 32: 45 pts & $48,775
Round 64: 25 pts & $26,430
Round 128: 10 pts & $16,425

Who is the reigning Champion?

In the 2018 Men’s Singles final, Alexander Zverev (GER) defeated Dominic Thiem (AUT) 6-4, 6-4

In the 2018 Ladies Singles final, Petra Kvitova (CZE)) defeated Kiki Bertens (NED) 7-6, 4-6, 6-3

Where can I buy tickets for the tournament?

You can buy tickets online by clicking here

How can I follow the tournament without going there?

To watch the live scores of every match in this tournament as they happen you can use the Tennishead exclusive Live Scores service here.

You can also follow this tournament on their official Twitter here

Alternatively you can watch the tennis live on television and full details of how to do this can be found here

Men’s singles entrants for 2019 (This list will change regularly):

Novak DJOKOVIC

Rafael NADAL

Alexander ZVEREV

Roger FEDERER

Dominic THIEM

Kei NISHIKORI

Stefanos TSITSIPAS

Juan Martin DEL POTRO

Marin CILIC

Fabio FOGNINI

Karen KHACHANOV

Daniil MEDVEDEV

Borna CORIC

Marco CECCHINATO

Nikoloz BASILASHVILI

Gael MONFILS

Denis SHAPOVALOV

Roberto BAUTISTA AGUT

David GOFFIN

Kyle EDMUND

Dusan LAJOVIC

Diego SCHWARTZMAN

Alex DE MINAUR

Gilles SIMON

Guido PELLA

Pablo CARRENO BUSTA

Lucas POUILLE

Laslo DJERE

Stan WAWRINKA

Nick KYRGIOS

Marton FUCSOVICS

Fernando VERDASCO

Richard GASQUET

John MILLMAN

Mikhail KUKUSHKIN

Philipp KOHLSCHREIBER

Jeremy CHARDY

Grigor DIMITROV

Radu ALBOT

Joao SOUSA

an-Lennard STRUFF

Steve JOHNSON

Andreas SEPPI

Jo-Wilfried TSONGA

Past Champions – Men’s Singles

Prediction for 2019

Already the big news is that Roger Federer will be entering this years Mutua Madrid Open which signals possibly his last big push for a succesful clay court season before retiring. It’s most likely that he just stops playing on clay after 2019 as it’s never been his best surface and he will want to preserve his energy for tournaments that he has a more realistic chance of winning. But having Federer in this event is a massive bonus for the tournament and the fans.

But that doesn’t mean he’s going to win it as he’d have to overcome his two greatest rivals and two players that have beaten him many times on clay, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Nadal will obviously be many peoples favourite for this tournament because of his record especially when playing on clay in his home country Spain. But last year saw Nadal lose early to the Austrian youngster and clay court specialist Dominic Thiem. It signalled that maybe Nadal’s dominance on clay was dimming even though he then went on to win Rolland Garros for a record 11th time.

Novak Djokovic has only won Madrid once but many commentators expect him to be totally focussed on this years clay court season in an effort to do the ‘Novak Slam’ again where he holds all 4 Slams at one time. After a poor run at Miami and Indian Wells in 2019 he himself has been questioning is concentration but maybe the start of the clay season will reinvigorate the great Serb.

Can Zverev retain his 2018 title? His form is like a rollercoaster at the moment with incredible runs of success such as the ATP Tour World finals in 2018 but then he can dip down just as quickly as we’ve seen in Indian Wells and Miami. So our prediction is for a Nadal victory at the Mutua Madrid Open 2019.

For a more detailed look at the potential winners of the 2019 Madrid Open read our latest article here

Good luck to everyone!

Look ahead to 2019 with our guide to every tournament on the ATP Tour, the WTA Tour and the ITF Tour

If you can’t visit the tournaments you love then do the next best thing and read our guide on how to watch all the ATP Tour matches on television in 2019

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