2025 Madrid Masters: 5 key tips about the tournament
by Cydias Aujard | by Cydias Aujard
The back-to-back, a tricky mission for the defending champions
The Madrid Masters 1000 is still a very young tournament, as it wasn't until 2002 that it was first held on clay! And in 23 editions played, the Spanish capital has not seen many of its winners succeed in retaining their title, making our tennis prediction still undecided!
11 different players have added their names to the list of winners (André Agassi, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Marat Safin, Roger Federer, David Nalbandian, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz and Andrey Rublev) and only 2 of them have managed to retain their title!
Who did? The Spanish armada, of course, with Rafael Nadal (2013 and 2014) and Carlos Alcaraz (2022 and 2023), who made history at the Madrid Masters 1000. Andrey Rublev will be looking to emulate these clay-court benchmarks...
Carlos Alcaraz, the world's best clay-court player
Twice winner in the Spanish capital in 2022 and 2023, Carlos Alcaraz will be the great favourite for this 2025 edition. Although the winter was full of ups and downs for the world number 3, his recent performances have reminded everyone that he remains the benchmark on clay on the Tour.
Winner in Monte Carlo and runner-up in Barcelona, the Iberian tennis player showed that he is already in good form with just a month to go before Roland Garros, where he will have to defend his title, but first of all he will have to confirm our Madrid Masters prediction.
35 tie-breaks at the 2024 event
On clay, matches often take a long time to find a winner (see below). Last year, 35 tie-breaks were played throughout the Madrid Masters 1000 (in 95 matches).
These were often evenly-matched matches that provided plenty of suspense and surprise outcomes!
Extra-long matches in Madrid
While the previous edition saw a lot of tie-breaks, the matches were generally very evenly balanced from start to finish. Of the 95 matches played, 57 needed a final set to decide the match.
These were often uncertain encounters, resulting in arm wrestling and great entertainment.
Arthur Fils, the pleasant surprise of this Madrid Masters 1000?
A quarter-finalist in Monte Carlo and then a semi-finalist in Barcelona, Arthur Fils has made a good start to his preparations for Roland Garros. The Frenchman is full of confidence and is gradually seeing his status on the circuit change.
Although the Frenchman still has a lot of progress to make, his recent performances bode well for the 14th-ranked player in the world and following the French No. 1 could be a intersting at the start of this tournament!
