Italian tennis bosses have reportedly made a sensational bid to take over the Madrid Open. The clay court tournament has become an annual fixture on the ATP calendar since its maiden event in 2002, the only exception being in 2020 when it was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The tournament is currently owned by IMG and has long been established as Spain’s biggest tennis occasion.
However, the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation (FITP) seemingly have plans to effectively relocate the event to Rome.
According to La Stampa, IGM has received an offer in the region of £435million. The federation is said to be planning on expanding the length of the Rome Masters to two weeks, a timescale currently only awarded to Grand Slams.
That could see the event in the Italian capital acquire an unofficial ‘fifth Slam’ status. The news follows Endeavour announcing last October that it was considering the sale of some events within its IMG profile, including both the Madrid Open and Miami Open.
Romanian businessman Ion Tiriac sold the tournament to the New York-based company in 2021 for a fee in the region of £323m, considerably less than the figure linked to the FITP.
But any proposals to move the tournament elsewhere are likely to meet fierce resistance from tennis chiefs in Spain. The ATP Masters 1000 event prompts mass interest in Madrid, and last year beat its attendance record with more than 380,000 people coming through the doors.
The tournament was initially played indoors before moving outside to red clay in 2009. In 2012, Tiriac altered the colour of the surface to blue clay in order to reflect sponsors Mutua Madrilena.
However, following the event, leading players threatened a boycott if the red clay was not restored. That was over complaints the blue clay ws more slippery than the traditional red.
The 2025 version at Caja Magica will run from April 21 to May 4. Andrey Rublev and Iga Swiatek will go in as the defending champions after their respective triumphs last year.
Rafael Nadal is the event’s most successful player with five titles. Petra Kvitova leads the women’s standings with three tournament wins.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk