Sabalenka continues Madrid Open pursuit as Swiatek speaks on retirement – tennis news round-up
The Madrid Open continued to tick along with an epic match in the women’s draw and here’s all the news you may have missed on Monday.
Aryna Sabalenka and Naomi Osaka play out entertaining battle
The match of the day was undoubtedly Sabalenka v Osaka with the World No 1 overcoming a first-set scare to win in Madrid.
But Sabalenka showed her class in the second, winning 6-3, which took the momentum out of Osaka and the deciding set finished 6-2.
After, she praised her opponent who returned from maternity leave.
“She’s such an inspiration and coming back out of pregnancy in sport like tennis, it’s not that easy at all. And to see her back in the top 20, for sure, she’s going towards the top 10. It’s incredible. It’s inspiring,” she said.
You can read more on that match here
Iga Swiatek shares message after Madrid retirement
World No 4 Swiatek shared a message after she was forced to retire at the 2026 Madrid Open on what she described as “a real rough day.”
The six-time Grand Slam champion retired due to a virus when trailing 6-7(4), 6-2, 0-3 against world No 34 Ann Li in the third round in Madrid.
You can read her message here.
Jannik Sinner discusses potential Madrid Open skip
Everything is looking pretty rosy right now for World No 1 Sinner who is on a mission to produce one of the greatest clay swings of all time.
Ahead of the French Open, he is progressing nicely in Madrid and discussed whether he ever considered skipping the tournament after a packed schedule.
“I mean, yes and no,” the four-time major champion replied. “When I won, or when I finished there in Monaco, I said, you know, in three, four days we decide if we play or if we don’t play.
“I woke up quite good body-wise. I was like, why not? So we go here, we try how my body feels.”
Lorenzo Musetti identifies ‘big difference’ between Madrid Open and other clay tournaments
Speaking of players going well in Madrid, Musetti is enjoying his best ever performance at the venue and is through to the round of 32.
Asked why this particular tournament has been kind to him, the Italian highlighted the altitude.
“The big difference this tournament has compared to others is the altitude, as here we play at 500 to 600 meters,” he said. “It’s not really the clay that changes.
“Honestly, the conditions suit my game very well. I like it when the ball takes the spin I want with my backhand or serve, and I feel the ball spins a lot here, and the slice works very well too.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas subjected to heavy criticism
It’s not been a good year for Stefanos Tsitsipas so far and it comes at a time when he has sunk to 80th in the world.
While Madrid is going well so far, the Greek was slammed by Jim Courier who suggested he has not fixed obvious errors in his game.
“For too long, the weaknesses in his game have remained,” Courier said on the Tennis Channel. “His slice backhand, inadequate.
“His backhand return, inadequate. His inability on other surfaces to recognise that he should be standing back to hit second serve returns so he can hit more forehands, that’s a failure.”
You can read more on that piece here
Elena Rybakina falls out with line-calling system
Rybakina may have won her match against Zheng Qinwen but she was left furious with the line-calling system after what she believed was an out serve.
After, the Kazakhstani said she had no “trust” in the automatic system.
“The system is wrong, this is not a joke,” Rybakina said. “I won’t trust it at all. Because there was no mark even close to what the TV showed.”
Read more of what Rybakina had to say here.
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