Spain power cut: Tennis star stuck in lift as outage wreaks havoc at Madrid Open

The Madrid Open was badly affected by a huge power outage and doubles world No. 62 Fernando Romboli was left stuck in a lift for around half and hour as a result

Tennis star Fernando Romboli got stuck in a lift as a huge power outage caused chaos at the Madrid Open. Spain and Portugal were severely hit by a power outage on Monday, with Spain even declaring a national emergency as a result.

Doubles world No. 62 Romboli was left stranded in a lift due to the outage, sharing a photo on his Instagram story with the caption: “30 minutes stuck in the elevator… if there’s an alternate now I won’t make it in time”.

Romboli is only in Madrid as an alternate after missing the cut and he was eventually freed by the maintenance crew.

Jacob Fearnley’s match against Grigor Dimitrov was suspended, while Coco Gauff was conducting a post-match interview after her win over Belinda Bencic when the outage occurred.

Mirra Andreeva was able to finish her match against Yuliia Starodubtseva, completing a 6-1, 6-4 win to reach the quarter-finals. “This is my first blackout,” Andreeva said after the match.

READ MORE: Spain power outage: British star forced off court at Madrid Open at crucial momentREAD MORE: Wimbledon tennis champion issued lengthy suspension and forced to give up prize money

“It’s actually kind of exciting because I’ve never experienced anything like this. I’m super happy that they put me first so I got to finish everything on time.

“But I don’t want to spend the night here and sleep in the gym, but we’re going to see what they tell us and just go from there.”

Sky Sports pundit Gigi Salmon added: “Everyone is in darkness. I walked past the player restaurant and the players are eating by candlelight so that they can actually see what they’re eating.”

Salmon also revealed that there were a number of hidden issues that stars were having to deal with. “I spoke to a number of players. Players at the hotel were told not to come on site, players on site were told not to leave,” she explained.

“Simple things like they couldn’t get rackets strung and there was no power in the showers. They couldn’t make their way out onto the practice courts and they were eating their food by candlelight.”

Much of the power has now been restored in Spain and tournament organisers announced that play will resume at 12pm. “Power supply has been restored at the Caja Mágica,” they said in a statement on social media.

“To ensure the proper functioning of the entire facility, gates will open at 11:00 AM, and play will begin at 12:00 PM, as originally scheduled.”

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