Former player Daniela Hantuchova has suggested that the organizers of the 2023 Madrid Open were helping Carlos Alcaraz to win another trophy in Madrid.
Carlos Alcaraz played the Madrid Open final on Sunday and he proved victorious against Jan-Lennard Struff. The end result of that match is not a surprise to anyone as Alcaraz was widely expected to win the matchup anyways due to his forte and the way he performed at the ATP 1000 event in the Spanish capital in the past two years.
Alcaraz won the event last year beating Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in back-to-back matches and then also Alexander Zverev in the final. Hantuchova was in La Caja Magica before the final and noticed the court being watered twice while she was speaking on Prime.
One thing guys I do want to point out, the groundspeople have watered the court twice since we’ve been talking. So I feel they’re trying to make the court as slow as possible so it’s easier for Carlos to return that serve.
The serve is the major weapon of Struff and with the altitude in Madrid, it's the shot that benefits most from the conditions. His tremendous run this week in Madrid had much to do with his serve allowing him to win some close matches. Hantuchova went on to explain that this is the first time she saw the court being watered twice before a match.
But that doesn’t happen, that was the first time this week that I noticed that he’s already covered at least this side twice with the water.
The former player further stated that it's not something that is uncommon. She has spotted such moves before with Spanish players in Spain and Italian players in Italy at the Rome Masters. Players from both countries generally prefer slower conditions.
Especially on clay, that’s what we were kind of always expecting when you play a Spanish player here or in Italy when you play someone from Italy.
It's not the first time this year that the organizers of the 2023 Madrid Open came under fire. First, it was a birthday cake controversy that sparked the discussion and also the choice to use models instead of ball kids was criticized.
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