We now have an official list of players who have registered for the ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 tournaments. These will be the stars of the 2021 Mutua Madrid Open, which takes place from 27 April to 9 May in the Caja Mágica.
Novak Djokovic, the player who has occupied the top of the ATP Rankings for more weeks than any other in the Open Era, will head the line up this year. The Serb will be back to defend the title he claimed in 2019 and has won on two other occasions (2011, 2016).
He is not facing an easy task though, because among the other players battling it out on the Madrid clay will be none other than Rafael Nadal. Nobody has won the title more times than the Spaniard (2005, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2017) and this will be his eighteenth appearance at the tournament -a record he will share with Fernando Verdasco.
The cherry on the cake will be provided by the presence of Roger Federer, winner on all three surfaces the Mutua Madrid Open has been played on (indoor hard, clay and blue clay). On the verge of turning 40, the Swiss player has no desire to miss out on this chance to impress the Madrid fans.
In addition to these stars, the Caja Mágica will also have the chance to watch players on its clay courts who have recently won the right to be called a contender at any tournament, such as Daniil Medvedev, Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas. For their part, Andrey Rublev and Matteo Berrettini will be making their debut.
In terms of home players, Roberto Bautista, Pablo Carreño, Albert Ramos and Alejandro Davidovich have sealed their tickets to the main draw, where they will join recently announced wildcards Carlos Alcaraz and Verdasco.
In the women’s competition, Kiki Bertens will be back on the Madrid clay as the last woman to lift the title. The Dutch player, who played in two consecutive finals (2018, 2019), is the tenth name on the list headed by Ashleigh Barty, the world number 1 and recent champion of the WTA 1000 in Miami.
Petra Kvitova, the player who has won the most titles in Madrid (2011, 2015, 2018), along with Simona Halep, with the most finals (2014, 2016, 2017, 2019), will also be in the draw. They will be joined by all the other active players to have reached the peak of the rankings; Garbiñe Muguruza, Naomi Osaka, Karolina Pliskova, Angelique Kerber and Victoria Azarenka.
Other WTA top ten players on the list include Sofia Kenin, Elina Svitolina, Aryna Sabalenka and Bianca Andreescu. While Grand Slam champions such as Iga Swiatek and Svetlana Kuznetsova are also among the 47 women to have earned themselves a spot at the 2021 Mutua Madrid Open.
