So there I was, hanging out and totally not expecting anything bonkers, when Mirra Andreeva steps up to serve at the Madrid Open. Just as she swings, bam! Lights out. Seriously. Power decides to take a nap across Spain, Portugal, and even parts of France. Chaos everywhere. Trains, traffic lights, you name it, all just poof.
At the tournament, it’s like going back to a time before tech ruled. Line-calling systems? Kaput. Scoreboards? Nada. Players and umpires were doing it old-school, eyeballing the lines. Kinda wild, right?
Anyway – wait, no, back to the court – Jacob Fearnley, from the UK, was just about to serve to keep his match dreams alive against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov when the ‘spider cam’ thing that hangs above decided to freeze, right in their faces. I mean, not the best time for a tech glitch.
Mirra, meanwhile, somehow got through. She served out the win despite having a mini internal freak-out at 15-40. She’s like, “Oh please, Mirra, just win this!” And she did. High five to her nerves of steel.
Elsewhere, nothing was moving. Trains were stuck, and Fernando Romboli, a Brazilian doubles player, was trapped in a lift. Yeah, you read that right. Dude was stuck for 30 minutes. Must’ve been a wild Insta story.
And oh, remember Fearnley and Dimitrov? They were at a tense 6-4, 5-4 situation but had to bounce ‘cause, well, no power. Meanwhile, Andreeva, Coco Gauff, and Matteo Arnaldi snuck through with their wins. Lucky ducks.
Coco had her own hiccup – couldn’t even get a shower after her match. Instead, she did this baby wipes and perfume routine. I feel you, Coco. We’re all just slaves to electricity, aren’t we? Insanity.
