{"id":7637,"date":"2021-05-07T23:04:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-07T21:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/luminaris.com\/wp\/?p=7637"},"modified":"2024-08-06T15:30:43","modified_gmt":"2024-08-06T14:30:43","slug":"mutua-madrid-open-day-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/luminaris.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/07\/mutua-madrid-open-day-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Mutua Madrid Open – Day 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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 M\u00e1gica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dominic Thiem wins!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day session was now over and I had a few hours to kill. I could have left the Caja M\u00e1gica 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The outer courts<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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 Gar\u00edn 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 Gar\u00edn 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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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:<\/p>\n\n\n\n