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Hi, I’m not sure if this is the right forum to put this but I thought I would share my experience from the Madrid Masters. Especially because some matches were not televised.
So last week I attended the Madrid Masters. I had centre court tickets for the day and night session on Wednesday.
Nadal Practice
I started off by heading to the practice courts where Nadal was training with Marc Lopez. There was a big crowd but still plenty of places to sit. Nadal was practicing with incredible intensity and was putting everything into each shot. The session pretty much consisted of one drill: Nadal working the cross court forehand over and over and then finishing with a big forehand down the line. Whenever he missed, he would put his hand over his face in disappointment.
Murray Practicing
I then moved over to the adjacent court to see Andy Murray practice with David Goffin. Nothing much to report here, they just had a light hit and spent about 15 minutes talking before the practice. By the way Amelie Mauresmo is pretty heavily pregnant now.
Berdych Practicing
I always try to watch Berdych when I am at an event. While I don’t like watching him that much on television, his game is really impressive live. He hits the ball so hard and with so little net clearance. He was practicing with Danni Valverdu (who is really small!). They were working on Berdych hitting mid court balls. First Berdych has to hit inside out forehands/winners, followed by cross-court backhands and then forehand drive volleys. He hit almost everyone on the line but funnily enough when he had his first mid-court forehand against Gasquet he hit it cross-court and missed!
Cilic vs. Verdasco
I caught this match on Stadium 3. This is a pretty small arena but all of the seats are great. In the warm up and for the first 3 games Verdasco literally did not hit one ball clean. You could hear him mistiming the ball every time. I was then sure that he would go on to lose the match. But after being broken in the second game he went on to win the match. So much for warm ups...
Bellucci vs. Isner
I caught the second set tie-break between these two. Isner double faulted on two match points and Bellucci missed two easy forehand putaways on 2 set points. Eventually Bellucci won the tie- break.
The third set was pretty straight forward but pretty FUNNY as I was sitting next to Bellucci’s coach, what a tough job he has! He was trying to motivate Bellucci by constantly saying stuff in Portuguese and making motorboat sounds over and over again! “BRUM, BRUM, BRUM, venha thomas”. Bizarre. The umpire kept on looking over because he was obviously coaching his player but he never received a warning. Then at 4-0 down Belucci just shook his head at his coach as if he had completely given up....his coach was then quiet for the rest of the match.
Berdych vs Gasquet
This was another untelevised match. I sat behind Vallverdu and Berdych’s girlfriend, she was on whatsapp almost the entire match, she even showed her phone to Dani at some point. As for the match it was pretty competitive and Gasquet did a great job at keeping the ball out of the middle of the court. Gasquet’s defence is pretty impressive on clay even though he was impeded by the size of the court, there were a few balls he could have got to if it wasn’t for the backboard. The best point was probably when Gasquet was break point down, I think just before the TB in the first set. There was a long rally and Gasquet finished it with a backhand DTL. The umpire then gave Richard a time violation to which he responded “have you ever played tennis in your life” (in a strong French accent”.
Chardy practice
I also saw Chardy practicing serves and yesterday I saw that Chardy beat Rosol serving at 77%. Must have helped
because normally it is so low.
Nadal vs Steve Johnson and Federer vs. Krygios
Not much too report here as most of you probably watched it on TV. Johnson couldn’t time one backhand for the first five games. The crowd are crazy for Nadal and a bit out of order. A few fans screamed “dobla falta (double fault)” a few times after Johnson missed a first serve.
The Federer Krygios match was great. At 7-6 2-0 0-30 for Federer you actually got the sense you were witnessing a bit of a masterclass. Federer hit the ball great off the ground even if his forehand didn’t look potent enough. Krygios turned things around, especially on his serve and the tie-break was really exciting and the whole crowd was for Federer
THE BEST FOR LAST Dimitrov/Melzer vs. Matkowski/Zimonjic
As the last metro was at 1.30am and the Murray match didn’t start until 1 am this turned out being the last men’s match I saw of the day. They need to sort out better transport for the night matches.
Anyway, where do I begin? Dimitrov was clearly tanking this match in preparation for the Nadal match. Missing almost every first serve and volley. It was so obvious I was pretty appalled. I even text my brother to give me the odds on the match because I was so sure Matkowski/Zimonjic would win. I felt bad for Melzer as I guess he makes his living off doubles these days.
Anyway the match went into a second set tie-break and Melzer/Dimitrov went down 3-0. You guessed it, each point was lost by Dimitrov. He framed an easy smash into the bottom of the net and turned his back on a volley. He blamed the court both times. Melzer just looked at him in disbelief. Anyway Melzer then amped his self up and the two go to set point. This is where the controversy began. Matkowski called a ball out mid-rally that was very close. Lehyani then came down to confirm the ball was out. But then Melzer went crazy. He ran to the other side of the net and claimed it was the wrong mark. “There was no way that ball was f****** 5cm out, that is the wrong mark”, Lehyani wouldn’t budge and Melzer continued “that is so f****** bad, such a bad decision”. Everyone was entranced, comedy viewing. He then shouted at Matkowski for pointing at the wrong mark but had to apologise when it was established Matkowski, who is really out of shape!, did not point at a mark.
Melzer/Dimitrov lost the tie-break and Melzer broke two of his rackets against the chair and stormed off. Dimitrov didn’t seem to mind too much. Grigor threw his wristband into the crowd to a kid with a Bulgarian flag. He caught it but so did an older Spanish man. He shouted at the kid to make him let go and then gave the wrist band to a woman he was with. The father of the boy then came over and started shouting and an argument ensued. All very funny. The woman then proceeded to taunt him with the wristband and he called her a “p*ta” at stormed off with his kids.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Ronaldo was also on centre court most of the day and I got a photo which you can see below.
It a was great day and with the lack crowds it makes for a very fun tournament. The grounds aren’t beautiful except for the pond by the players area but they are very modern.
Here are some photos. I don't know how to make them full size.
![dimitrov melzer.jpg]()
![doubles.jpg]()
![federer.jpg]()
![madrid grounds.jpg]()
![murray.jpg]()
![nadal.jpg]()
![nadal2.jpg]()
![ronaldo.jpg]()
So last week I attended the Madrid Masters. I had centre court tickets for the day and night session on Wednesday.
Nadal Practice
I started off by heading to the practice courts where Nadal was training with Marc Lopez. There was a big crowd but still plenty of places to sit. Nadal was practicing with incredible intensity and was putting everything into each shot. The session pretty much consisted of one drill: Nadal working the cross court forehand over and over and then finishing with a big forehand down the line. Whenever he missed, he would put his hand over his face in disappointment.
Murray Practicing
I then moved over to the adjacent court to see Andy Murray practice with David Goffin. Nothing much to report here, they just had a light hit and spent about 15 minutes talking before the practice. By the way Amelie Mauresmo is pretty heavily pregnant now.
Berdych Practicing
I always try to watch Berdych when I am at an event. While I don’t like watching him that much on television, his game is really impressive live. He hits the ball so hard and with so little net clearance. He was practicing with Danni Valverdu (who is really small!). They were working on Berdych hitting mid court balls. First Berdych has to hit inside out forehands/winners, followed by cross-court backhands and then forehand drive volleys. He hit almost everyone on the line but funnily enough when he had his first mid-court forehand against Gasquet he hit it cross-court and missed!
Cilic vs. Verdasco
I caught this match on Stadium 3. This is a pretty small arena but all of the seats are great. In the warm up and for the first 3 games Verdasco literally did not hit one ball clean. You could hear him mistiming the ball every time. I was then sure that he would go on to lose the match. But after being broken in the second game he went on to win the match. So much for warm ups...
Bellucci vs. Isner
I caught the second set tie-break between these two. Isner double faulted on two match points and Bellucci missed two easy forehand putaways on 2 set points. Eventually Bellucci won the tie- break.
The third set was pretty straight forward but pretty FUNNY as I was sitting next to Bellucci’s coach, what a tough job he has! He was trying to motivate Bellucci by constantly saying stuff in Portuguese and making motorboat sounds over and over again! “BRUM, BRUM, BRUM, venha thomas”. Bizarre. The umpire kept on looking over because he was obviously coaching his player but he never received a warning. Then at 4-0 down Belucci just shook his head at his coach as if he had completely given up....his coach was then quiet for the rest of the match.
Berdych vs Gasquet
This was another untelevised match. I sat behind Vallverdu and Berdych’s girlfriend, she was on whatsapp almost the entire match, she even showed her phone to Dani at some point. As for the match it was pretty competitive and Gasquet did a great job at keeping the ball out of the middle of the court. Gasquet’s defence is pretty impressive on clay even though he was impeded by the size of the court, there were a few balls he could have got to if it wasn’t for the backboard. The best point was probably when Gasquet was break point down, I think just before the TB in the first set. There was a long rally and Gasquet finished it with a backhand DTL. The umpire then gave Richard a time violation to which he responded “have you ever played tennis in your life” (in a strong French accent”.
Chardy practice
I also saw Chardy practicing serves and yesterday I saw that Chardy beat Rosol serving at 77%. Must have helped
because normally it is so low.Nadal vs Steve Johnson and Federer vs. Krygios
Not much too report here as most of you probably watched it on TV. Johnson couldn’t time one backhand for the first five games. The crowd are crazy for Nadal and a bit out of order. A few fans screamed “dobla falta (double fault)” a few times after Johnson missed a first serve.
The Federer Krygios match was great. At 7-6 2-0 0-30 for Federer you actually got the sense you were witnessing a bit of a masterclass. Federer hit the ball great off the ground even if his forehand didn’t look potent enough. Krygios turned things around, especially on his serve and the tie-break was really exciting and the whole crowd was for Federer
THE BEST FOR LAST Dimitrov/Melzer vs. Matkowski/Zimonjic
As the last metro was at 1.30am and the Murray match didn’t start until 1 am this turned out being the last men’s match I saw of the day. They need to sort out better transport for the night matches.
Anyway, where do I begin? Dimitrov was clearly tanking this match in preparation for the Nadal match. Missing almost every first serve and volley. It was so obvious I was pretty appalled. I even text my brother to give me the odds on the match because I was so sure Matkowski/Zimonjic would win. I felt bad for Melzer as I guess he makes his living off doubles these days.
Anyway the match went into a second set tie-break and Melzer/Dimitrov went down 3-0. You guessed it, each point was lost by Dimitrov. He framed an easy smash into the bottom of the net and turned his back on a volley. He blamed the court both times. Melzer just looked at him in disbelief. Anyway Melzer then amped his self up and the two go to set point. This is where the controversy began. Matkowski called a ball out mid-rally that was very close. Lehyani then came down to confirm the ball was out. But then Melzer went crazy. He ran to the other side of the net and claimed it was the wrong mark. “There was no way that ball was f****** 5cm out, that is the wrong mark”, Lehyani wouldn’t budge and Melzer continued “that is so f****** bad, such a bad decision”. Everyone was entranced, comedy viewing. He then shouted at Matkowski for pointing at the wrong mark but had to apologise when it was established Matkowski, who is really out of shape!, did not point at a mark.
Melzer/Dimitrov lost the tie-break and Melzer broke two of his rackets against the chair and stormed off. Dimitrov didn’t seem to mind too much. Grigor threw his wristband into the crowd to a kid with a Bulgarian flag. He caught it but so did an older Spanish man. He shouted at the kid to make him let go and then gave the wrist band to a woman he was with. The father of the boy then came over and started shouting and an argument ensued. All very funny. The woman then proceeded to taunt him with the wristband and he called her a “p*ta” at stormed off with his kids.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Ronaldo was also on centre court most of the day and I got a photo which you can see below.
It a was great day and with the lack crowds it makes for a very fun tournament. The grounds aren’t beautiful except for the pond by the players area but they are very modern.
Here are some photos. I don't know how to make them full size.
