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Nationwide Power Outage Halts Madrid Open Play, Matches Rescheduled

A rare atmospheric phenomenon caused a massive power failure across Spain, disrupting the tournament and forcing postponements until Tuesday.

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Fans had to navigate through the stadiums in darkness
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Overview

  • A nationwide power outage in Spain on April 28 disrupted the Madrid Open, suspending matches and disabling electronic line-calling systems and scoreboards.
  • Jacob Fearnley's third-round match against Grigor Dimitrov was interrupted at a critical stage, with play postponed until Tuesday pending power restoration.
  • The outage, attributed to 'induced atmospheric vibration' from extreme temperature variations, also caused transport chaos in Spain, Portugal, and southern France.
  • Tournament organisers abandoned both day and night sessions, citing safety concerns, while some matches saw manual umpiring improvisations before suspension.
  • Spain's grid operator, Red Eléctrica, is implementing a phased power restoration plan, gradually reconnecting generating units to stabilize the grid.