
Former World No.1 Andy Murray and three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber have been confirmed as the first participants at the Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro.
The Mutua Madrid Open was originally scheduled to be held from May 1st to May 10th, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the tournament organizers announced on Monday the creation of a virtual edition of the event.
The new tournament will feature the best tennis players in the world facing each other from their homes, as they swap their rackets for video game controllers. It will be held from April 27th to April 30th, as players "clash" in a virtual recreation of the Manolo Santana stadium.
Two-time Madrid champion Murray (2008, 2015) is the first ATP star to be announced. Competing alongside the Brit is Frenchman Lucas Pouille, who just recovered from a right elbow injury.
Representing the WTA is former World No.1 Angelique Kerber, who seems eager to compete against other WTA players.
“The Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro is a new challenge for us the players, and something that I have never been done before,” Kerber said. “It’s exciting and a good opportunity to compete from home in a new format. I'm looking forward to participate!"
Joining Kerber is the retiring Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro. The former World No.6 was denied the opportunity to compete in front of her home crowd one final time due to the pandemic. This tournament grants her the unique chance to say goodbye to her fans, albeit in a different format.
"Forming part of the Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro is an honor,” Suárez said. "I’m sure we will all have a good time, we’ll have fun with the fans and, above all, we’ll be contributing to a good cause.”
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Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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