Location Madrid
Spain Category Masters 1000 Prize money €5,719,660 | Website Official website Draw 48S / 24Q / 16D | |
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Surface Hard / indoors (2002–2008)
Clay / indoors (2009––present) Venues Caja Mágica (2009–), Madrid Arena (2002–2008) Instances 2016 Mutua Madrid O, 2015 Mutua Madrid O, 2011 Mutua Madrid O, 2015 Mutua Madrid O, 2014 Mutua Madrid O Profiles | ||
The Madrid Open, currently sponsored by Mutua Madrileña, is a male and female professional tennis tournament, currently held in Madrid, Spain, during the first week of May. The event is classified as an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour and a Premier Mandatory event on the Women's Tennis Association tour. In the past it has also been known as the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open and before that the Madrid Masters. The tournament is traditionally played on a red clay surface. Despite having been played on blue courts in the 2012 tournament edition the ATP decided against it for the 2013 edition.
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Ion Țiriac, former Romanian ATP player and now billionaire businessman, is the current owner of the tournament. Țiriac stated that he has an annual net profit of over €35 million and that his tournament brings to Madrid revenues exceeding €200 million.
History
From 2002, the tournament was classified as an ATP Masters Series event on the men's tour. The event was held since 2002 in the Madrid Arena. The tournament was played from 2002 through 2008 on indoor hardcourts. In 2009, the surface became clay courts, the venue was changed to the Park Manzanares, and the tournament was expanded to include WTA professionals.
Blue clay
Businessman and former player Ion Țiriac, the Romanian owner of the Madrid Masters that since 2009 has been a clay court tournament, proposed a new color of blue clay for all the courts, on the grounds that it would supposedly be better visually, especially for viewers on television. Critics suggested that the adaptation of blue color is a nod to the titular sponsor of the tournament, the Spanish insurance giant Mutua Madrileña. This controversial change was subsequently granted and began to be used in the 2012 edition of the tournament. In 2009 one of the outer tennis courts had already been made of the new surface for the players to test it. Manuel Santana, the Open's current director, has assured that aside from the colour, the surface keeps the same properties as the traditional red clay.
On 1 December 2011, Țiriac confirmed that the blue clay surface was officially approved for the 2012 edition of the tournament, in both the ATP and WTA circuits.
However, due to many top players' concerns over slipping over and not feeling steady on the surface, the tournament returned to the traditional red clay for 2013.