In the face of the coronavirus emergency, the Madrid Masters 1000 made history again. Innovative like few others in the tennis calendar, the tournament will bring together today’s great players for the Madrid Virtual Tennis Open. Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Diego Schwartzman, among the men, and Karolina Pliskova, Eugenie Bouchard and Madison Keys, among the women, will participate.
Everyone will play from their houses, through the Tennis World Tour for PlayStation 4. And they will for solidarity purposes.
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The parties will start at 10 (Argentina time. They will be transmitted through the Facebook page of the Madrid Masters (in English) and in the PlayStation Spain Facebook page (in Spanish).
This Monday there will be 26 matches spread between the crossings of the ATP, those of the WTA and some confrontations of the great figures of tennis against youtubers and influencers.
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The men’s competition will be made up of: Rafael Nadal, Benoit Paire, Denis Shapovalov and Andy Murray (Group 1); Dominic Thiem, Diego Schwartzman, John Isner and David Ferrer (Group 2); Stefanos Tsitsipas, Fabio Fognini, Kei Nishikori and Frances Tiafoe (Group 3); and Alexander Zverev, David Goffin, Karen Khachanov and Lucas Pouille (Group 4).
The female team will be made up of: Karolina Pliskova, Belinda Bencic, Fiona Ferro and Carla Suárez (Group 1); Elina Svitolina, Johanna Konta, Victoria Azarenka and Sorana Cirstea (Group 2); Bianca Andreescu, Madison Keys, Kristina Mladenovic and Caroline Wozniacki (Group 3); and Kiki Bertens, Angelique Kerber, Donna Vekic and Eugenie Bouchard (Group 4).
In both contests, the two best of each group will advance to the quarterfinals. From that moment the duels will be of direct elimination, to consecrate a champion and a champion.
The Madrid Open will be ‘played’ at home in the middle of the fight against the coronavirus.
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The matches this Monday
The tournament will open with the match between the Spanish Ferrer and Schwartzman, which comes with a recent experience in eSports: he was one of the organizers of the ChamPlay, although he lost the final with Eduardo Salvio. His presentation will be at 10 (Argentina time).
Not before 11:30 am, the Small He will cling to control again to face the American Isner. And around 14:30 he will meet the Austrian Thiem.
Nadal, the great figure, will debut at 10.30 against the Canadian Denis Shapovalov. His other game of the day will be half an hour later, with the youtuber DjMariio.
The action of the virtual Madrid Open will continue until Thursday, when the names of the winners will be known.
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Its charitable purposes
Each painting will put into play a prize of 150 thousand euros, which will be distributed to assist lower ranking players who suffer the most forced break on the circuit.
In addition, there will be a donation of 50 thousand euros to reduce the social impact of Covid-19.
Due to the pandemic, tennis is paralyzed until at least June. The Madrid Masters 1000, which was due to take place in early May, was forced to experiment and take risks to maintain its place on the sports calendar. And with Feliciano López at the head of the organization, he chose eSports to innovate.
