The curtain was raised on the 2024 Mutua Madrid Open on Monday in the capital of Spain, which will also be the capital of world tennis over the next fortnight until Sunday 5 May. Plaza de Colon passed the baton to the emblematic Plaza Mayor as the stage for the tournament’s traditional presentation in the presence of the defending champions.
With the statue of King Felipe III in the background, Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz were accompanied by mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida; as well as Ignacio Garralda, president of the Mutua Madrileña, and Feliciano López, director of the Spanish Masters 1000, at an event presented by journalist Juanma Castaño.
“I love this tournament, it’s one of my favourites on clay. I love the city of Madrid and I hope I can play my best tennis so that the people who come to watch us can enjoy themselves,” said Sabalenka, the two-time champion (2021 and 2023), who now has an opportunity to equal Petra Kvitova with three titles (2011, 2015 and 2018).
“I’m better and feeling good. Madrid is one of my favourite tournaments and we’re doing everything we can so I can recover. Things are feeling positive and I think I can say that, if everything goes well, I think I’ll play,” revealed Alcaraz, the champion of the last two editions of the event, who could now become the first player to win three crowns in a row.
“The MMOPEN is the flagship of all the sports tournaments in Madrid. We feel very proud and, after 22 editions, we can say that this is the fifth major of tennis and an unmissable tournament,” said the mayor of the event’s significance.
“There is nothing that brings people together more and makes them feel like part of a successful project. We’ve been with the tournament for 18 years and seen the evolution from the Madrid Arena to the Caja Mágica. It’s incredible to see that in two weeks it can attract 250,000 people,” noted Garralda of the consolidated alliance between the MMOPEN and Mutua Madrileña.
“We’re still upping the standards. Last year we were in Colon and now we’re on Plaza Mayor, another iconic site. Today it was amazing to see the Caja Mágica full on the first day and it’s an achievement to have people come and see the tennis regardless of who is playing,” exclaimed the director of the Masters 1000 in Madrid.
Plaza Mayor has been the geographic centre for the MMOPEN since 6 April, when it opened a clay tennis court there, in the city’s historic centre, built to International Tennis Federation (ITF) standards.
The initiative, through which the court is available for play to all citizens of Madrid from 10:00 to 20:00 with a reservation, is a repeat of the successful campaign last year when it was built on Plaza de Colon.
