Daily Dose of Social Media: Power outage chaos in Madrid Open from Coco Gauff's coverage to humour from Stearns, Fritz and Perez
WTAMonday, 28 April 2025 at 23:30
In our Daily Dose of Social Media, we look back at the day that was in terms of entertainment or not when it came to the Madrid Open.
Cancelled throughout the afternoon, there was a major power outage in Europe which saw Spain, Portugal and France all but grind to a halt. Coco Gauff, Marta Kostyuk, Taylor Fritz and Peyton Stearns were among those to react but it created panic in some cases and hilarity in others.
WTA 1000 and 1000 candles as Marta Kostyuk shows behind the scenes during the chaos
Marta Kostyuk phrased it as WTA 1000 and 1000 candles as she shared a selfie of herself with a candle in the canteen it looked like as she awaited what was going on.
She also tagged an account to try and find more info as to what was going on. But like many her match was cancelled for the day soon after anyway.
Marta Kostyuk during the power outage on IG 🕯️ pic.twitter.com/ocPanF96JL
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) April 28, 2025
Fans left in the dark literally during power outage
Fans were left in the dark literally during the power outage with videos shared during the aftermath of the power going off. It was pitch black despite it being the morning in Madrid so it was light outside.
But it was something like out of a disaster movie as fans clamoured for the exits using torches to light their way with all the power now off.
Those who stuck around wouldn't have done much good either as play was soon cancelled for the day during the afternoon. It means that most of the top names will have to come back tomorrow in a bumper Tuesday.
This includes Sabalenka v Stearns, Shnaider v Swiatek, Tsitsipas v Musetti and Draper v Berrettini. Fans who attend on Tuesday perhaps have the luxury but those attending on the Monday now go home to no power and also having watched maximum two matches today.
Coco Gauff and Mirra Andreeva had the right ideas speeding through their ties as soon after the power went off so they don't have to return tomorrow.
The fans at the Madrid Open are left in darkness amid the power outage.
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) April 28, 2025
Crazy scenes.
pic.twitter.com/dAqhUoByhF
Madrid Open tie gets suspended for strange reason during electric outage
Jacob Fearnley will feel like he is on a hiding to nothing as such when he comes back on Tuesday as he was one game away from being defeated anyway against Grigor Dimitrov.
But it was confounded by a pretty funny occurrence which kind of kick started off the issues with the power outage. The power went off during Coco Gauff's post match interview but Dimitrov and Fearnley were still playing.
But as has been dictated the issue was that the Electronic Line Calling System also wasn't working which didn't help matters and the Skycam also stopped working during the Dimitrov and Fearnley tie which meant that it was suspended above the court and stuck.
Certainly not the day to have technology in tennis!
Madrid Open lost electricity and now Dimitrov vs Fearnley is suspended because the Skycam is stuck above the court.
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) April 28, 2025
Wow. pic.twitter.com/U3ofSBIEEs
Coco Gauff shows state of play after win
Coco Gauff took to her Instagram story to show the reality of the situation. She posted a picture in which a young fan was seen posting with a tray of candles in her hand.
She also tried to have a shower after defeating Belinda Bencic but of course she couldn't. She expressed relief at managing to get through her match before the power then went off.
"Apparently the power is out in most of the country and in Portugal I finished my match right before it happened. Thank god," she wrote.
Taylor Fritz, Peyton Stearns and Ellen Perez find humour in situation
But while others scrambled for safety and saw it as a serious situation which it is, Taylor Fritz, Peyton Stearns and Ellen Perez used it to hilariously joke in a different side to the case.
Stearns initially tweeted "What's done in the dark comes to the light" referencing her latest win but then took to X today when she couldn't face Aryna Sabalenka to write: "I didn't mean this literally..."
The American is known for her trademark humour on social media calling herself a dawg and asking prospective coaches to slide into her DM's so bringing that humour is part of the Stearns
I didn’t mean this literally….. https://t.co/jtSewOYyxy
— Peyton Stearns (@peyton_stearns) April 28, 2025
Fritz also chimed in which received a hilarious reaction by writing: "Have they tried unplugging and plugging it back in."
The American will play tomorrow night so wasn't disrupted today. He will take on Casper Ruud who saw off Sebastian Korda yesterday.
Fritz on the otherhand saw off Benjamin Bonzi in his latest clash through a walk-over. But despite not interrupting him on a match perspective, practice likely would've been for him today.
Have they tried unplugging and plugging it back in ?
— Taylor Fritz (@Taylor_Fritz97) April 28, 2025
Doubles star Ellen Perez also made light of the situation with reference to the recent electronic line calling fracas which ironically was one of the main reasons why play couldn't resume.
"How to get rid of inaccurate ELC on clay...remove all the power in Spain."
Albeit it got less of a positive reaction with some chiming in that parts of Europe are without power. But Perez responded: "Fix ELC I bet it's the culprit of the disruption."
How to get rid of inaccurate ELC on clay… remove the power in all of Spain 💁♀️
— Ellen Perez (@EllenPerez95) April 28, 2025
Eva Lys shares her own electronic line call
Eva Lys aimed to gain thoughts on the Alexander Zverev serve by posting a picture of her own serve called wide.
"ELC said it's in...it was a wide serve. Thoughts?," she wrote on social media with the image.
Lys shared a similar problem during a Madrid second-round loss to Pegula and she took a photo of the ball mark and posted it asking her followers her thoughts.
ELC said its in… it was a wide serve. Thoughts ? 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀 pic.twitter.com/DIJAVemGue
— Eva Lys (@evalys_) April 25, 2025
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