Power Outage Halts Madrid Open, Forcing Players Off Court
A massive power outage across Spain and Portugal brought the Madrid Open to an unexpected halt on Monday, disrupting matches and forcing players, including Britain’s Jacob Fearnley, to leave the court mid-play.
Fearnley, who had just saved a match point in his third-round battle against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, was preparing to serve while trailing 6-4, 5-4 when the blackout hit the main stadium.
The outage knocked out the electronic line-calling system and scoreboards, causing the match to be suspended.
Officials initially considered continuing with the umpire making manual calls. However, further complications arose when a spider camera, suspended above the court, became stuck within the players’ line of vision. After a delay, the umpire decided to escort the players back to the locker rooms.
The Madrid Open announced the interruption through its official Instagram account.
Spain’s electricity network operator, Red Eléctrica, confirmed that widespread outages were affecting the country and that restoration efforts were underway.
E-Redes, a network monitoring company, described the blackout as part of a broader European issue, saying power was being restored gradually.
The power failure impacted more than just sports events. Traffic lights were reported out across Madrid, leading to heavy congestion, and parts of the city’s metro system had to be evacuated.
Neighboring Portugal experienced similar disruptions, with Lisbon and Porto’s metro systems shut down and train services temporarily halted.
Jacob Fearnley, who hails from Scotland, was one of three British men scheduled to play their third-round matches in Madrid on Monday. Cameron Norrie was set to meet Canada’s Gabriel Diallo, while British number one Jack Draper was scheduled to face Italy’s Matteo Berrettini.
