The Madrid Open and the Canadian Open are two of the six biggest mixed events in tennis outside the Grand Slams, known as ATP Masters 1000s and WTA 1000s. The BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells<\/a>, Calif., the Miami Open<\/a>, the Italian Open<\/a> and the Cincinnati Open<\/a> are the others.<\/p>\n These events award the most prize money and ranking points, other than the season-ending ATP and WTA Tour Finals<\/a>, for which only the top eight singles players of the season qualify. They also receive the most money for sponsorships and media rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n Licenses for these events are valued at roughly $500 million. Tennis isn\u2019t making more of them at the moment. The Grand Slams aren\u2019t for sale. A 1000-level license is the most valuable commodity in the sport.<\/p>\n Fans also travel from all manner of time zones and cross plenty of borders to attend \u2014 and to see their favorite players. During a combined ATP and WTA 1000 event, nothing can happen at the tour level anywhere else \u2014 these events are supposed to be the center of the tennis universe. They run 12 days, which is why ATP Challenger Tour and WTA 125 events (the second rungs of professional tennis) see their entry lists get stacked during the second week of the headline show, in case top players lose early.<\/p>\n But over the past 18 to 24 months, the biggest stars in the sport have been getting more outspoken about the relentlessness of the 11-month season, and more choosy about which events they skip, in the hope of extending their careers. At this year\u2019s Madrid Open, the event has run into a bit of bad luck with one of the brightest lights in the entire sport.<\/p>\n The rest of its laundry list of withdrawals \u2014 23 across the men\u2019s and women\u2019s draws \u2014 is connected to its place in the tennis calendar, and its outlier status in the clay-court swing that defines the middle part of the year.<\/p>\n Alcaraz, a two-time winner of the event who last year missed it with a forearm injury, made it two straight misses last week. He withdrew from the Barcelona Open with a wrist injury after winning his first match, then pulled out of the Madrid Open.<\/p>\n At the time, the move seemed like a mere precaution \u2014 Alcaraz wants to be in peak physical form to defend his French Open title<\/a> \u2014 but the story became far more ominous Monday, when Alcaraz showed up to the Laureus Sports Awards dinner in Madrid wearing a splint.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m trying to be very patient these days, but we\u2019re doing OK, we\u2019re here, waiting for some tests in the coming days. From there, we\u2019ll see how the injury is and what the next steps will be,\u201d Alcaraz said during a news conference at the Laureus event.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just trying to stay positive and keep my spirits up, even though these days feel long.\u201d<\/p>\n On the same day Alcaraz pulled out, Djokovic announced he would skip Madrid for the third time in four years. Djokovic, who will turn 39 next month, has become a kind of part-time tennis player, but he remains the world No. 4, proving that when he shows up for big events and feels motivated, there are only two players in the world who can consistently beat him \u2014 Alcaraz and Sinner.<\/p>\n \u201cMadrid, unfortunately, I won\u2019t be able to compete this year,\u201d Djokovic wrote on social media. He lost in the quarterfinals at Indian Wells, then dropped out of the Miami Open with a right-arm injury. He has not played since.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m continuing my recovery to be back soon.\u201d<\/p>\n Djokovic\u2019s announcement didn\u2019t come as a shock, even though he is a three-time winner in Madrid and has a home in Spain. Tournament organizers were distressed but not panicked by the rising tide of withdrawals.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hope to see you back here as soon as possible so we can enjoy your tennis as we have done so many times in the Caja M\u00e1gica,\u201d the Madrid Open account posted on social media.<\/p>\n Other notable withdrawals include Jack Draper, last year\u2019s finalist and a former world No. 4, who is nursing a knee injury, and a slew of Americans: Taylor Fritz,\u00a0Frances Tiafoe and Sebastian Korda. On the women\u2019s side, two-time major finalist Amanda Anisimova, the in-form Karol\u00edna Muchov\u00e1, Emma Raducanu, Emma Navarro and Barbora Krej\u010d\u00edkov\u00e1 are all out, but the top five players in the world are all present and correct.<\/p>\n Feliciano L\u00f3pez, the former player who serves as the tournament co-director with two-time Grand Slam champion Garbi\u00f1e Muguruza, said in a statement Tuesday that the Madrid Open remains one of the key stops on the clay calendar.<\/p>\n \u201cWe deliver an event and experience players value,\u201d L\u00f3pez said. \u201cWithdrawals are part of the sport and reflect individual circumstances in that moment. Players want to perform at their best and don\u2019t want to miss Madrid unless they have to.\u201d<\/p>\n For an event as big as the Madrid Open, most of the revenues \u2014 including media rights fees, sponsorships and the bulk of tickets, especially for the more expensive late-round matches \u2014 are locked in before players take the court for the first matches. The biggest short-term impact of withdrawals is on last-minute ticket buyers, and on disappointed fans hoping to see a star or two who end up missing out at the one tournament they can attend per year.<\/p>\n However, if the Madrid Open develops a reputation for failing to attract all the best players, selling high-priced sponsorships and hospitality packages would become harder. As players get choosier about which events they play, the Madrid Open is also one of the biggest tournaments at risk of withdrawals.<\/p>\n On the ATP Tour, most of the best male players are loath to miss the Monte-Carlo Masters. Many of them live in Monaco and train at the Monte-Carlo Country Club, where the event takes place. The Americans often play the U.S. Clay Court Championships in Houston on the men\u2019s side, and the Charleston Open on the women\u2019s side. They are both the week before the Monte Carlo Masters.<\/p>\n During that week, men\u2019s and women\u2019s players alike mostly rest, train and then fly across the Atlantic, before what for many of them becomes a three-month trip to Europe that doesn\u2019t end until after Wimbledon. Given their lack of success on clay, any U.S. ATP Tour player with a longer-term injury concern (such as Taylor Fritz, who is managing knee tendonitis) is likely to pick the terre battue as their layoff period. Ben Shelton\u2019s triumph at the Munich Open this past Sunday<\/a> was the biggest win for an American man on clay since Andre Agassi won the Italian Open in 2002.<\/p>\n The Madrid Open also has some baked-in challenges from the sport\u2019s calendar. Like the Canadian Open, it\u2019s an ATP Masters and WTA 1000 event before a Grand Slam on the same surface. The Canadian Open, a hard-court event played in Toronto and Montreal because neither city has a venue big enough to house both tours at once, starts four weeks before the U.S. Open. The Madrid Open starts four weeks before the French Open.<\/p>\n But both tournaments have another 1000-level event between them and their accompanying Grand Slam \u2014 the Cincinnati Open follows the Canadian Open; the Italian Open follows the Madrid Open.<\/p>\n Given how physical the sport has become, players may decide it is not worth competing in back-to-back events right before a Grand Slam. The back-to-back-to-back lineup carries an increased risk of injury. According to two people briefed on discussions, who were not authorized to speak publicly about ongoing internal plans, the tours plan to look at the events\u2019 timing as part of an ongoing effort to streamline and optimize the prize money, rankings and schedule for the 2028 season. The WTA Tour announced a council devoted to optimizing its calendar in February.<\/p>\n Then there are the conditions. Madrid sits more than 2,000 feet (about 650 metres) above sea level, and the weather can be hot and dry. Tennis balls fly faster through the air the thinner and drier it gets, and the Madrid Open has historically been more favorable to big-serving players than its clay-court cousins.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Tennis-Madrid-Open-Clay-scaled.jpg\")
\nThe Madrid Open\u2019s weather, altitude and calendar position make it an outlier on the European clay swing. (Julian Finney \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n