Madrid Tennis Open 2009 chronicle

"Thirst"

2009 was being one of the rainiest years in decades… right up to the beginning of the Madrid Tennis Open . Suddenly, all taps got turned off and the water deluge gave way to a roaring cloak of fire. A rock-cracking heat welcomed the stifled participants from all around the world who in the end would obliviously say goodbye to the Casa de Campo and its tennis courts as the venue for the tournamente with a “They are far too fast!” as the most usual complaint. Time shows no mercy, and actually the change was becoming more and more necessary.

But this was not only the last tournament for these facilities. The team who strived to raise it, Juanda, Omar and Gonzalo, would say goodbye to tournament organisation. Throughout the years, people such as Roberto Cánovas, Chema Burgos, Axier Uzkudun or Mariate Escalada had stepped up after considering that they had spent enough hours on the phone, in front of the computer or going from meeting to meeting. It is for them to enjoy now, and for the rest of us to thank them all for their effort in bringing up a toddler that has now become a strapping your man.

Several images of the 2009 edition remain in my head. Among them, a tremendous match between a debutant DEBUTANT, Pedro Alonso, and a traditional player of the GLTA, Jochen Bildstein, from Germany. I remenber that Jochen had a rough time again to defeat Javi González and that he sent the final packing in no time at all. More or less what happened in the Open Category to José Bosch, who won the title without losing a single set. In the B Group, we all got hynotized by a backhand shot, that of the winner, Francoise Silvestre. Tiny as he is, what flat whiplashes he would throw!

These were not exactly the drives seen at the final of the Group C. Ángel Bragado and Patrick Tang, so many times doubles partners, had another rendez-vous at the tennis court, but this time separated by a net. The fierce duel of backspins was won by Patrick, a real godson of this tournament (¿??). But that is not all: Ángel Chávez or Thomas Kid are the first tennis players to come to my mind. And in the Group D José Molina swept all aside, both in doubles and singles.

Too many matches for too little water. A cut in the supply (the “water supply”, as Leonardo Lema would say) left us all shower-less and even loo-less. Really an unkind piece of news in any circumstance and a real pain when temperatures reach 35 degrees. In spite of all this, the pace of the competition was never lowered. You can ask Martin Husk and Radu Ion, who played their match at 100.000 amps of intensity until ten o’clock Saturday night, or you can ask all those heroes who had to jump on the courts at three in the afternoon. And hey, many of them are back!

So what about the girls? María José won the Open, the writing had been on the wall. Ana Fresno won Group B and the mixed doubles of the Group A with Pedro Alonso. Sara Gasparro, from the Italian Armada, ran away with the title of the mixed doubles for Group C with Patrick Tang, but it was Marleen Versaen, the only Belgian among seven Italians in a group of eight women, who finally raised the trophy of the Group C.

There is, for sure, anothe story to be told, and that is the account of all that happened outside the courts, be it close to or far from them. In the register, during lunch, during dinners, at the party or in Gran Vía at six in the morning.

I now pass the baton to any volunteer who may wish to recount the racy version of events. It is time for us to all write the chronicle of MTO 10. But this time, in the shade and close to the swimming pool.

Share