A widespread power outage that hit large parts of Spain and Portugal on Monday caused significant disruption, including chaos at the Madrid Open tennis tournament. Brazilian player Fernando Romboli was among those affected, finding himself trapped in an elevator as the venue plunged into darkness.
The electrical failure was so extensive that Spain reportedly declared a national emergency.
Several players at Madrid`s Caja Magica venue were left stranded as the concourse went dark. Romboli, 36, experienced a particularly unfortunate incident, having entered a lift just moments before the power failed.
Despite being the doubles world No. 62, Romboli was not scheduled to play this week, attending the tournament only as an alternate after missing the main draw cut.
Adding to his troubles, the recent champion from Houston spent approximately thirty minutes stuck inside the lift.
Romboli shared a selfie from inside the elevator, giving a thumbs-up and tagging the Madrid Open account. The unfortunate player posted: “30 minutes stuck in the elevator… if there`s an alternate now I won`t make it in time.”
Eventually, maintenance personnel at the site successfully prised open the doors to rescue Romboli.
Before the 12:30 pm power cut, reigning U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff managed to complete her match, securing a 6-4, 6-2 victory against Belinda Bencic.
Gauff, 21, was in the middle of her on-court interview when the electricity went out, causing her microphone to stop working mid-sentence.
The American later mentioned she couldn`t even take a shower after her match and eventually had to walk back to her hotel because the roads around the Caja Magica were completely gridlocked.
British rising star Jacob Fearnley was in a critical situation when play was halted, about to serve to stay in his match against Grigor Dimitrov at 4-6, 4-5.
All remaining matches for the day were subsequently canceled, and fans were advised to leave the venue if possible.
Inside the dark concourse, which people navigated using phone flashlights, food and drink stalls were operating, but fans could only pay with cash as contactless payment systems were down.
Another player who did manage to finish her match was the teenage sensation Mirra Andreeva.
The Russian completed her match against Yuliia Starodubtseva despite the power cut, with the umpire manually calling the lines for the final points.
`Kind of Exciting`
Andreeva, who turns 18 on Tuesday, told the WTA after her match: “This is my first blackout. It’s actually kind of exciting because I’ve never experienced anything like this.”
“I’m super happy that they put me first so I got to finish everything on time. But I don’t want to spend the night here and sleep in the gym, but we’re going to see what they tell us and just go from there.”
If power is fully restored, Tuesday is expected to be a busy day as the tournament attempts to catch up on the schedule.
Fearnley’s match against Dimitrov is scheduled to resume second on Manolo Santana court, following the match between Diana Shnaider and world No. 2 Iga Swiatek.
