Brazilian tennis star stuck in elevator due to power outage at Madrid Open

Proceedings at the 2025 Madrid Open took a bizarre turn on Monday, as a nationwide power outage led to play being cancelled for the rest of the day.

Several parts of Europe, including Spain and Portugal were affected by a massive power cut that left millions without power. Both nations have been working hard to restore the electricity as Portugal’s grid operator, REN, said that "extreme temperature variations" had produced a "rare atmospheric phenomenon" that caused the issue.

Doubles specialist Fernando Romboli found himself stranded in an elevator for 30 minutes at the initial stage of the outage, according to a report from L'Equipe. The 36-year old had entered the elevator just as the power outage hit several parts of the country, at around 12:30pm local time.

Unaware of the power cuts across the nation at the time, Romboli was forced to remain in the elevator as authorities scrambled to release him. The World No.62 in doubles was eventually able to escape after being stuck in the lift for half an hour, as he made his exit at around 1pm local time.

The power outage occurred just as American tennis prodigy Coco Gauff was being interviewed following her round of 16 win over Belinda Bencic. The World No.4 looked visibly startled as her microphone cut off and the lights went out, causing the interview to come to a premature end.