Mutua Madrid Open – Day 3
The quarterfinals! A guaranteed way to see the top eight players of the tournament, and still somewhat affordable. I was very happy to see that I would have a chance to see a couple of my top favourite players as well. The first match didn’t start until 1pm so I had plenty of time to have a decent breakfast and even an early lunch, just so I wouldn’t be starving later forcing me to have more than one meal at the Caja Mágica.
First up was my favourite player who is not named Roger Federer: Dominic Thiem, playing my not-favourite-at-all John Isner. I have to admit I was a little, OK, a lot, worried about this match. John has been playing especially well in Madrid, dispensing with Roberto and Rublev, and Dominic has been a bit off himself too. I would not have been happy to have a chance to finally see my fave and also see him lose. The first set didn’t improve my mood, either. Isner came out swinging (or serving) and won the first set rather handily. I was starting to get quite nervous for my boy. The second set, however, was more of what I was used to: Dominic took charge of the set early on and won the match rather handily. I breathed a sigh of relief, happy I got to see him win. I hope this was just the first of many matches of his I can see in person.
Next up was the highly-anticipated Rafael Nadal-Alexander Zverev bout, with Rafa still the favourite having won this tournament five times previously though Sasha has won it most recently back in 2018. As I mentioned earlier, I have seen Nadal win a tournament before in Barcelona, but it was still exciting to see him again, especially when playing one of my top-5 favourites. To my surprise, it wasn’t as close as I had expected: Rafa’s serve was broken once in each set and the match was over 6:4 and 6:4. Zverev really showed that he is very capable of winning a big tournament and I do admit I was pleased for him.
The day session was now over and I had a few hours to kill. I could have left the Caja Mágica campus but the neighbourhood it’s in isn’t exactly very exciting, and the prospect of hunting for a place to eat just didn’t appeal to me. I knew I wasn’t going to be impressed by any meal at the concourse either but at least I’d have time to explore the complex. It was a pretty hot day so being “inside” was a good thing and the Caja has fantastic air flow (it’s pretty much open to the elements but cleverly disguised). I got a chance to check out the lower level of the venue, drawn there by sounds of a live DJ and rather loud music. Clearly there was a party going on there. It was a very strange space, to be honest, though perhaps in normal times it would be much fuller with spectators. The lights were turned down low with neon ones offering much less illumination than is practical but I guess that was all for an effect. At the far and by the reflecting pool, there was a restaurant/bar with that live DJ doing his thing, at an incredible volume, while many couples were lining up to get in. For a New York second I entertained the idea of going in to have a drink only to be brought back to reality by my shyness and a general dislike of being alone in very crowded social places, especially loud ones where the music is crap (to my ears). Instead I wandered around a bit more, met a very cute service pupper-in-training, watched the big screens to see what was happening on the other courts, and eventually found a spot to sit down and read my book while watching the other people. At some point I had to go and check back into the night session (it was a separate ticket) and then it was time for the next match. My seat for this session was on the opposite side of Manolo Santana giving me an opportunity to view the play from three different corners. I was a little worried about the shadows inside the stadium as I had watched how the people moved seats as the sun moved across the sky. I was lucky, however, my seat being just high enough to always be safely in the shade.
The first evening match was between Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan and the young Casper Ruud of Norway. It was a good match but not quite at the level of the afternoon ones, though still enjoyable. I kept an eye on the clock hoping that both evening matches will be relatively quick. The prospect of the looming curfew was constantly on my mind but I was determined to stick around as long as possible to watch Cristian Garín take on Matteo Berrettini. I knew the Chilean fans would be back, perhaps in not as large numbers (the tickets weren’t cheap, remember?), and I wasn’t disappointed. Showing a lot of promise, the Chilean started very well, taking the first set, but in the second, his serve totally abandoned him and he lost it 6:3. At this point it was already after 10pm and I was getting very nervous about the time I had to get home. Seeing Garín struggle anyway I made the executive decision to depart, knowing that if he managed to get himself back into the match, I could watch it at home. In the end, my decision proved to be the correct one: Cristian lost the third set 6:0 and I’m sure it would have been very frustrating to witness in person.
All in all, I had a fantastic time at the Mutua Madrid Open 2021. To be part of such an event has been a dream of mine for a long time. I noted a few observations while there:
- Most people in attendance were men, often father-and-son pairs or friends. There were some couples, very few female couples (friends and otherwise), and I did not see even one solo woman other than me. Lots and lots of men, though, and many of them on their own.
- There was always that one (or two) idiots who didn’t keep their masks on properly. Security had to keep pointing at them but they still behaved like children (including sticking their tongue out when security wasn’t looking).
- Lots of rich people: the fancy boxes were full of them and they definitely stood out as they strolled the grounds.
- Interestingly, the expensive seats are also the hottest (exposed to the sun the longest). Why would anyone pay so much money and then be in a position to faint from heatstroke?
- I’m curious to know what you get with the VIP packages. There were areas accessible only to them but I have no idea what happened there … but I guess that’s kind of the point.
- There was a DJ downstairs making lots of noise for people who were trying to have drinks and food. I could not see the point.
- There were stairs, lots and lots of stairs (the VIP seats did not require one to climb as many).
- Most men dress really well all the time: dress shirts and slacks very common, jackets too.
- As mentioned earlier, people moved wherever they wanted to in order to run away from the moving sun. Attendance being limited allowed this but I wonder if during the finals they could still move around like that. (finals tend to be sold out).
- Best sections to be in are A1-A5 and the corners are way better than I would have thought.
I’m sure you’ve had enough tennis talk but I must tell you how Madrileños do curfew … For reference, let me remind you what the curfew was like in Valencia: the 10pm was a hard line few dared to cross, and by 9:30 the streets already looked deserted. All establishments, whether stores or restaurants, would kick out patrons at least half an hour before curfew allowing their workers to get home in time too. In Madrid, since I have not been going out late, I had no idea what the streets were like in late evenings. When I headed back to the metro at 10:30 (curfew at 11pm), I expected to see people heading home. What I did not expect was the sheer quantity of them, and none of them appeared in any particular hurry. As a matter of fact, when I got out of my neighbourhood station, Tribunal, there were the usual hordes of people all around, it being a typical meet-up spot. What was even more shocking, however, were all the people still out on the streets, especially those sitting on the sidewalk terraces all up and down Fuencarral. Many had drinks in their hands and showed no sign of going home … at 10:55pm. Sure, there was police presence, but even the pacos were not terribly interested in getting people off the streets. My mind was blown. True, the curfew was going to be lifted by the following Monday but, technically, it was still in effect. I guess the Madrileños were already done with it. This also shows why Valencia’s Covid rates dropped down to next to nothing in the times of lock-down and Madrid’s stayed some of the highest in the country for months. I had noticed this “you-can’t-tell-me-what-to-do” attitude back in March and it was very much in evidence now; each Comunidad really is as autonomous as their name implies and they all do things their way, for better or worse.
