It has been reported that the owner of the Madrid Open has recently had talks concerning possibly relocating the venue to a brand new country.
Romanian billionaire and former tennis player Ion Tiriac have held a meeting with the mayor of Berlin in Germany about potentially moving the event there, according to prosport.ro and their sources. No details have been released about what was discussed between the two during their meeting that took place last Tuesday. It was organised by Emil Hurezeanu who is the Romanian ambassador to Germany.
It is believed that Tiriac’s thinking behind the potential relocation concerns the growing appetite for tennis in Germany in recent times thanks to the likes of Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber. There have been rumours in the past about such a move but it has never materialised into anything as of yet. In 2018 Tiriac told Marca newspaper ‘the ideal (situation) would be to continue here (in Madrid) another 20 years, but if you can not and the tournament is not necessary for Madrid, we can not be there.’ Those comments were at a time he was trying to negotiate an agreement with the local government.
The Madrid Open is Spain’s most prestigious tennis tournament. Held at the Caja Magica on the clay, it is categorised as a Masters 1000 event for the men and as a Premier Mandatory for the women. Last year the singles champions took home just over $1.2 million in prize money. This year’s edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
There has been no comment from tournament director Feliciano Lopez or the Spanish Tennis Association (RFET) about Tiriac’s reported meeting. Recently a proposal was put forward by members of the local council to name the premier court at the Caja Magica after Rafael Nadal who has won the title there more times than any other player.
The next edition of the Madrid Open is scheduled to take place from 30 April to 9 May 2021. It is understood that 2021 is also the final year of the contract with Madrid, according to the Romanian branch of Eurosport.
