WTA TENNIS COMENTADA POR JAVIER: abril 2020

The women’s draw was no less intriguing. In Group 1, the only Spaniard in action Carla Suárez will have to take on Karolina Pliskova, Belinda Bencic and Fiona Ferro. Elsewhere, Group 2 has an even more complicated route to the title for Elina Svitolina. The Ukrainian will have to take on Johanna Konta, Sorana Cirstea and Victoria Azarenka, a finalist in 2011 and 2012.

Bianca Andreescu is the big name in Grupo 3, where she will be joined by Madison Keys and two other players who have played for the trophy in Madrid; Caroline Wozniacki (2009) and Kristina Mladenovic (2017). Finally, defending champion Kiki Bertens will be defending her title in Grupo 4, which also includes Angelique Kerber, Donna Vekic and Eugenie Bouchard.

“We’ve had a great response from all the players. From the first moment when the initiative was conceived, they were prepared to help. It’s the first virtual tournament. It’ll be a fantastic tournament, the bar is high, the players are ready and it’s certainly going to be spectacular”, guaranteed Feliciano López, the director of the Mutua Madrid Open.

This pioneering charity initiative will donate a total of 50,000 euros to the Madrid Food Bank to help reduce the social impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, the tournament will include a total purse of 300,000 euros in the two competitions (150,000 ATP and 150,000 WTA), from which the winners will be able to decide how much they donate to their peers on tour who are currently suffering economically.

“There are some really high-quality matches, as we normally see during the real tournament”, stated Gerard Tsobanian, CEO and president of the Mutua Madrid Open. “There is a very competitive group in the men’s draw. I know, because of what the players have been saying on social media, that they will be fighting to the death. I can’t wait to see who is going to progress from Group 1 and I’m looking forward to the tournament starting on Monday”.

The Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro, the innovative and virtual online tournament that will pit the best players in the world against one another from their homes from 27 to 30 April in the Caja Mágica’s Manolo Santana Stadium, which has been recreated in exquisite detail in the videogame Tennis World Tour (Nacon Gaming), will be streamed on Facebook Gaming.

16 ATP players (Rafa Nadal, Andy Murray, Dominic Thiem Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Gael Monfils, David Goffin, Kei Nishikori, Fabio Fognini, Diego Schwartzman, Denis Shapovalov, Karen Khachanov, John Isner, Lucas Pouille, David Ferrer and Frances Tiafoe) and16 WTA players (Karolina Pliskova, Elina Svitolina, Bianca Andreescu Belinda Bencic, Kiki Bertens, Dona Vekic Angelique Kerber, Madison Keys, Kristina Mladenovic, Carla Suárez, Victoria Azarenka, Caroline Wozniacki Johanna Konta, Fiona Ferro, Eugenie Bouchard and Sorana Cirstea) make up the competition’s entry list.

As well as the tennis players, eight content creators will participate, in parallel with the official competition, in a charity tournament that will see clashes between the biggest-name professional gamers in the industry; DjMaRiiO, Cristinini, Alexby, Seb Delanney, Gravesen, Borja Iglesias, Ibai Llanos and Grefg, as they use their PlayStation 4 controllers to show off their tennis skills.

The Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro can be followed in Spanish on PlayStation España’s Facebook page and in English on the Mutua Madrid Open’s page.