Tournament Preview
One of the biggest clay courts events of the season gets underway in Madrid with both the elite men and women converging on the Spanish capital. The Madrid Open is an event steeped in history and is often one of the most dramatic events on the calendar with a multitude of different winners having picked up both the male and female trophies. Here are our top Madrid Open Tournament tips.
Tournament History
The Madrid Open is one of the newer events on the calendar having been on the schedule since 2002 for men and 2009 for women. Despite the relatively short history of both events, they have quickly established themselves as important competitions on both the WTA and ATP tours. The Madrid Open is an ATP Masters 1000 event and a WTA Premier Mandatory event – meaning they are events of the highest prestige on both tours.
Format
The men’s event in Madrid is a 56 player draw with the top 8 seeds receiving first round byes whilst the women’s competition is a 64 player draw – with no byes for the big names.
Venue
The Madrid Open originally launched as a hard court event back in 2002 and was played at the Madrid Arena. In 2009 however, it became one of the premiere clay court events in the world and is now played at the Caja Magica.
Dates
Saturday 4th May 2019 – Sunday 12th May 2019
Previous Winners (Men’s)
The Madrid Open has been dominated by the ‘big 4’ that has had a hold on the ATP Tour for the past decade or so. Rafael Nadal has won the event on 5 previous occasions, with the Mallorcan known for his clay court prowess at this time of the year. Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer have all won the event two times each with Alexander Zverev ending that dominance with his tournament win in Madrid last year.
Previous Winners (Women’s)
Over the past decade, some of the most decorated players in the women’s game have picked up the Madrid Open trophy. Defending champion Petra Kvitova has the most tournament wins with 3 whilst fellow giants of the game Serena Williams and Simona Halep have both picked up the trophy in the Spanish capital on two previous occasions each.
2019 Tournament Preview (Men’s)
Despite not possessing the best record at the Madrid Open (in relation to his records in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and at Roland Garros), Rafael Nadal will once more be the man to beat. His defeat to the in-form Dominic Thiem in Barcelona makes the Austrian one of the favourites this week in the Spanish capital. Roger Federer will be making one of his very few clay court appearances in Madrid and could cause an upset whilst Novak Djokovic will be looking to assert himself as world number one.
2019 Tournament Preview (Women’s)
Defending champion Petra Kvitova has been in supreme form all season and will be looking to return to Madrid in style following her win in Stuttgart last time out. Simona Halep tends to play her best stuff on clay and will have one eye on Naomi Osaka at the top of the rankings too. Karolina Pliskova has also enjoyed a good year on the WTA Tour and will be looking to go deep as will Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber.
2019 Madrid Open Preview
Men’s Outright Winner Odds:
The Madrid Open will once again see the biggest names in the game battle it out in what promises to be an intriguing week of tennis.
Here are some of our favourites for the Madrid Open title:-
Rafael Nadal – 10/11 (Bet365) –
The Mallorcan has fallen by the wayside at both the Barcelona Open and in Monte Carlo and questions are starting to be asked of Nadal. He is chasing a 6th Madrid Open title and despite falling at the semi-finals in both of his last outings, is still the firm favourite here.
Dominic Thiem – 5/1 (Bwin) –
The man of 2019 so far Dominic Thiem has enjoyed a great 6 months, backing up his win at Indian Wells with the Barcelona Open last time out.,. His win over Rafael Nadal in Barcelona made many stand up and take notice and the Austrian looks to be in great form at the moment.
Novak Djokovic – 5/1 (888sport) –
The world number one has already picked up a Grand Slam in 2019 but hasn’t been at his fluent best since. He is aiming to go for his second French Open and become one of very few men to win all 4 Grand Slams in a row at Roland Garros next month but he will need to start finding form here.
Roger Federer – 8/1 (Royal Panda) –
The GOAT returns to the ATP Tour following his historic Miami win as he looks to make an assault on the clay court season. His clay court prowess pales into insignificance compared to the likes of Nadal but he has won the title here two times previously and could be well-rested.
Kei Nishikori – 14/1 (Unibet) –
World number 6 Kei Nishikori hasn’t been able to trouble some of the bigger names thus far during the European clay court season but will be relishing the chance to pick up points here. He crashed out in both Monte Carlo and Barcelona but could get a favourable draw here.
Alexander Zverev – 16/1 (Ladbrokes) –
The German had had a really tough season and has gone to Munich this week to prepare for the upcoming Madrid Open. He needs to start finding form quickly with the French Open coming up but he certainly has the tools if he can get his act together in time.
Stefanos Tsitsipas– 22/1 (William Hill) –
The Greek wonderkid – the ‘Ther’ of the court – fell at the last 16 stage last week in Barcelona but is notorious for his clay court prowess. He will be another one to watch in a congested draw and from the protection of the number 8 seeding, he will be confident of causing some damage here.