Feliciano Lopez, the tournament director of the Mutua Madrid Open, has been working hard to make the prestigious event to be staged in 2020, but that may not happen.
Spain was heavily hit by the Coronavirus pandemic, but fortunately they managed to contain the virus. However, things are getting bad again in Spain as the spread of Covis-19 is coming back. People coming back from Spain have to be quarantined in the UK and Germany has put 3 Spanish regions hit by COVID-19 on high-risk list.
According to popular media outlet Marca, the Deputy Minister of Public Health Antonio Zapatero stated as follows
“It is inadvisable to hold the tournament on September 2020, due to the aforementioned health risk that it would pose to both the public and the organization and the players,”
The organization of the tournament admitted that there are doubts about the staging of the competition. This is part of its statement.
“Given these recommendations from the competent health agencies, and given the difficult situation caused by the covid-19 (with a considerable increase in cases in Madrid and also in Spain), the organizers of the Mutua Madrid Open are analyzing and evaluating all the options in detail. possible, always thought to guarantee the safety of all the members of the tournament.Â
The final decision on the celebration of the Mutua Madrid Open 2020 will rest with Ion Tiriac and Super Slam Ltd., owner of the tournament license.“
Djokovic, Nadal and the Mutua Madrid Open
Novak Djokovic is the defending champion of the ATP1000 in Madrid after he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3 6-4 in the final in 2019. Djokovic has already agreed to play the event if that will be staged. He seems that he has also the intention to play the North American swing. Rafael Nadal also stated that he was happy to play in Madrid also because it seems to be extremely plausible that he will skip entirely the North American stint
Feliciano Lopez in 2020
Currently the world no.56, the Spaniard played his last match on the 4th of March when he surrendered to Aleksandar Vukic 6-3 3-6 6-3 in the 2nd round of the Monterrey Challenger.
