Daily Dose of Social Media: Swiatek and Gauff pick their favorite Spanish food, Boulter and De Minaur's prankster roles

In a new Daily Dose of Social Media, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff shared an interesting moment before their Madrid Open semifinal clash when they gave their opinions on the best Spanish foods.

On the other hand, ATP and WTA stars were pranked by none other than Alex De Minaur and Katie Boulter, while Carlos Alcaraz's Foundation received support with signatures from some of the best players in the world, including Mirra Andreeva and Novak Djokovic, among others.

Before their semifinal clash, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff participated in a fun round of questions and answers for the Madrid Open's social media, where they decided which traditional Spanish foods they enjoy the most. Some of the dishes they had as options included 'Paella,' 'Patatas bravas,' and 'Manchego Cheese.'

In a stunning semifinal match, Gauff swept past the Pole 6-1, 6-1, in one of the most lopsided defeats of Swiatek's career on clay courts. The 5-time Grand Slam champion lost for the fourth time in a tournament semifinal this year, deepening her struggles on the Tour, which have her on the verge of losing her spot in the top-2 for the first time in over 3 years. Meanwhile, Gauff advanced to another WTA 1000 final and awaits the winner between Elina Svitolina and Aryna Sabalenka.

Marta Kostyuk left a special message on social media after her controversial defeat to Aryna Sabalenka. The Ukrainian had her chances throughout the match, saved a match point against her in the second set, and took everything to a tie-break. It was precisely there that the controversy arose, as Sabalenka was serving at 4-5 and had to play with her second serve. However, she refused to play due to the increasing rain, and the match was stopped for about 20 minutes. Upon returning, Kostyuk went up 6-4 and had two set points to send everything to a third set, but the 3-time Grand Slam champion recovered to avoid prolonging the match and secured the victory 7-6[7-4], 7-6[9-7].

In any case, Kostyuk wanted to take the positives from her run to the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open and thanked the crowd that supported her at the Manolo Santana Stadium. The Ukrainian was in the quarterfinals of a WTA 1000 for the third time in her career and had defeated opponents like Emma Raducanu and Veronika Kudermetova along the way.

“Heart full today, and it’s all because of you,” she posted. “Yesterday’s match tested everything — focus, resilience, patience. I gave it my all, and while the result wasn’t in my favor, your support reminded me why I love this sport. Thank you for standing with me — it truly means more than you know.”

Some of the ATP and WTA stars were subjected to a prank by the Madrid Open organizers in "The Bad Tour Guide," a video made for the tournament's social media. The video shows the tournament's stars getting into a car that would transport them, in a prank coordinated by none other than Katie Boulter and Alex De Minaur, who followed behind the camera capturing all the moments the stars were pranked.

"Hello Taylor, I'm Sean, nice to meet you man. I’m a liaison with the tournament," commented the guide as he introduced himself while talking to world No. 4 Taylor Fritz. "So basically the tournament are doing a new service now to make journeys more enjoyable for the players," he told Casper Ruud.

Players such as Mirra Andreeva, Grigor Dimitrov, and Daria Kasatkina, among others, participated. The 'tour guide' tries to make an annoying trip for the players, bombarding them with questions, city facts, and even asking them for gift tickets to the tournament.

Carlos Alcaraz shared a video of the work done by the Fundación Alcaraz, recently launched a few weeks ago and which aims to promote the rights and well-being of children through sport and physical activity. Taking advantage of the Madrid Open, with practically all the big stars of the ATP and WTA at the tournament, several of his colleagues agreed to sign a shirt for the Foundation, with the aim of raising funds in an auction, including signatures from Novak Djokovic, Mirra Andreeva, Holger Rune, Zheng Qinwen, and Stefanos Tsitsipas, among others.

Alcaraz recently had to withdraw from the Madrid Masters 1000 after a couple of busy weeks in which he won the title at the Monte-Carlo Masters and then reached the final of the Barcelona Open, losing to Holger Rune. The Spaniard was set to face Gabriel Diallo in his debut but withdrew as a physical precaution. Alcaraz has already been seen back on the court, training in his native Murcia, while awaiting his participation in the Rome Open starting next week.

Social media images showed empty seats at the Caja Mágica for the match between Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff at the Madrid Open. The WTA 1000 – Masters 1000 tournament brings together the top stars of both Tours, in the third tournament of this category in the year that has both draws (in addition to the Miami Open and Indian Wells).

In the bottom half of the women's draw, world No. 4 Coco Gauff faced No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals, in a duel between two of the best players in the world in recent years, both Grand Slam champions. However, the public did not show much enthusiasm for the match – which ended in a 6-1, 6-1 victory for the American – and half of the seats in the stands were empty.