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Alexander Zverev was involved in a huge bust-up at the Madrid Open as the unravelling discontent over electronic line calling on clay courts exploded once again.

Top seed Zverev was convinced a shot from Alejandro Davidovich Fokina was out in their tense third round in the Spanish capital and he implored the chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani to leave his chair to inspect the mark.

Eletronic line calling has become commonplace in recent years on the other surfaces, but clay events had largely persisted with line judges and the umpire coming down from his or her chair to examine the mark left by the ball when calls were contested.

The move to the electronic system was always likely to be a big test of the technology and Zverev is not along in suggesting the calls are not being made correctly.

World No 1 female player Aryna Sabalenka took a photo with her phone during a match in Stuttgart last week to highlight a poor call and Zverev followed her lead when he did the same in Madrid.

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That earned his an ‘unsportsmanlike conduct’ warning from umpire, with the discontent among the game’s top players over the electronic line calls on clay courts becoming a big concern for the sport as he moves towards the second Grand Slam of 2025 at the French Open, where line judges will not be replaced by technology for now.

“Honestly, I believe there was a failure in the system, I think there was an error in the system at that moment,” said Zverev in his post-match press conference.

“I am a fan of the electronic system, but the ball was… it’s not just a little, a millimetre in or out, it was like four, five centimetres. Honestly, I believe there was a failure in the system at that moment. That’s why I addressed the chair umpire and said, ‘Please come down to see this, I’m not crazy (laughing), I can see what was happening’.”

“It will be interesting to see what happens now, what kind of fine they will give me, even if I’m right.

“I hope they don’t fine me because obviously, in my opinion, I am completely right and should not be fined for this. This was not normal. Usually, the system is very reliable. Usually, the system has been correct so far in my experience, but what happened today, I don’t know.”

Zverev was also asked about the role of umpire Lahyani as he stated: “It’s not the chair umpire’s fault because if, as a rule he can’t come down, he can’t come down.

“So it’s not Mohamed’s fault, but I will talk to the supervisors, I will talk to the ATP, because as I said, this is not normal. For an error like this to happen, yes, one or two millimetres I understand, but four, five centimetres is not normal.

Zverev shows the mark that was called IN by the electronic line calling pic.twitter.com/M85NENSQAy

— Olly Tennis (@Olly_Tennis_) April 27, 2025

“I believe there was a failure in the system itself, and when something like this happens, perhaps the chair umpire should be able to come down, but it’s not the chair umpire’s fault. The referee can’t do anything. What can he do? If the is rule he can’t come down, he can’t come down.”

The marks a ball leaves on a clay court may exposing flaws in the technology, with Zverev eager to post the image he took on his phone on his Instagram page after the match.

Zverev’s nervous performance against Davidovich Fokina may be a bigger concern to him to the line calling issues and the world No 2 was well below his best in a 2-6 7-6 (3) 7-6 (0) victory over his Spanish rival.

He served for the match at 5-4 in the decider, but threw in a dreadful service game and was relieved to get through to the last-16.

“The first set wasn’t my best tennis but it is sport and it can change quickly,” added Zverev. “I was down a set and a break and I had to fight. I am very happy with the win. Alejandro is playing unbelievable tennis, the best of his life, so I am happy to be through.”

READ NEXT: Novak Djokovic, Emma Raducanu and Andrey Rublev face rankings implications after Madrid Open defeats

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This year’s Madrid Open has been notable for the upset results and the fall-out will have a big implication on both the ATP and WTA rankings.

A host of big names headed to the Spanish capital eyeing up runs that would give them a huge rankings boost, but the upsets have been flowing on a daily basis heading into week tw of the tournament.

Here are some of the big names who will have their ranking impacted or severely dented after their early exits in Madrid.

Andrey Rublev

The defending Madrid Open champion has been in horrible form over the last few months and this was always going to be a crucial event for him as he tried to recoup as many of the 1,000 ranking points as possible from his run to victory last year.

His exit at the last-32 stages in Madrid will see Rublev’s ranking take a hit by a massive 850 ranking points when they are updated after the Madrid Open, with the Russian losing his position in the top 10 of the ATP Rankings and set to be demoted down to No 17 in the current live list.

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Jasmine Paolini

World No 6 Paolini is now an established member of the WTA Tour’s elite list, so her 6-2, 6-1 defeat against world No 82 Maria Sakkari at the Madrid Open was a real shocker.

Former top 10 star Sakkari has lost her way over the last couple of years and her ranking confirms as much, but she had a real chance to collect ranking points on her favoured clay courts and came up horribly short.

She will be defending 2,600 points from her runs to the French Open and Wimbledon finals over the next few weeks and if she loses half of them, she may drop out of the top 10 in the rankings.

Novak Djokovic

The Serbian legend may not have lost ranking points in Madrid, but he missed a valuable chance to challenge Taylor Fritz for a place in the top four of the ATP Rankings after losing his first match in Madrid against Matteo Arnaldi.

Getting into the top four of the ATP Rankings ahead of the French Open could be crucial to Djokovic’s hopes at Roland Garros, as it would ensure he would avoid a meeting with the players in the top two of the rankings until the semi-finals.

Yet the chances of Djokovic getting that far in the upcoming Grand Slam seem unlikely as he admits his current form is not good enough to compete at the top of the men’s game.

Jessica Pegula

The world No 3 was beaten in another shock result against Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima, opening the door for her rivals to overtake her in the rankings.

Coco Gauff’s unpredictable form needs to be polished up if she is to overtake Pegula, with Australian Open champion Madison Keys also eyeing up a leap to third spot in the rankings.

Emma Raducanu

The 2021 US Open champion can be encouraged from her two matches in Madrid, with her battling performance in a second round defeat against Marta Kostyuk suggesting she is starting to find her feet on clay.

Raducanu has maintained her status in the top 50 of the WTA Rankings with her wins in Madrid, but she had a chance to overtake Katie Boulter and become British No 1 again with a deep run in Madrid. That battle will continue when the two Brits play at next month’s Italian Open in Rome.

Holger Rune

Rune looked like a player to beat on clay after some sparkling performances saw him lift the Barcelona Open title earlier this month, but he crashed out early in Madrid.

That didn’t impact the ranking of a player who is currently at No 8 in the live rankings, but he had a chance to climb into the top six and that opportunity has gone for now.

READ NEXT: Novak Djokovic’s latest comments suggest his retirement may come sooner than even he expected

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This time, Novak Djokovic’s post-match comments had a different tone. This time, it seemed as if he feared the game was up.

As this 24-time Grand Slam winning legend admitted he was facing a “new reality” after slumping to a third straight defeat against unseeded Italian Matteo Arnaldi at the Madrid Open, it was hard to escape the reality that this latest setback may have moved this iconic sportsman’s retirement date forward.

Djokovic’s latest loss came on the back of a defeat by Jakob Mensik in the Miami final and what he described as a “horrible” display as he lost in his first match of the Monte Carlo Masters against Alejandro Tabilo.

“Kind of a new reality for me, I have to say,” conceded Djokovic. “Trying to win a match or two, not really thinking about getting far in the tournament – it’s a completely different feeling from what I had in 20-plus years of professional tennis.

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“It’s a challenge for me mentally to really face these kinds of sensations on the court, going out early now regularly in tournaments.

“You can imagine in 20 years, you know, I didn’t experience what I’m experiencing in the last 12 months. So, you know, early exits and, you know, way too many. But it is part of the sport, and you have to accept the circumstances and try to make the best out of the circumstances in your favour for whatever is coming up.

“Yeah, I mean, look, I cannot sit here and complain about my career or anything, you know, I’m not doing that. But it’s a different feeling that I just have to embrace, accept, and deal with in a special way.”

When asked if he had played his last match in Madrid, Djokovic gave a big hint that his last match as a professional may be sooner than even he expected a few weeks ago.

“It could be. It could be. I’m not sure if I will come back,” he said when asked if he expected to be at the Madrid Open in 2026. “I don’t know, I don’t know what to say. I mean, I’ll come back, maybe not as a player, of course. I hope it’s not, but it could be.”

He went to add some more telling comments as he made a stark confession that his body may no longer be supporting his ambition for one more shot at glory.

“I’m always trying to be optimistic, and I know what I’m capable of. But again, things are different, obviously, with my strokes, with my body, with my movement, it’s the reality that I have to accept,” he added. “I’ll try to make the most out of these new circumstances that I have, particularly on Grand Slams, where it counts the most for me, at least where I would like to do my best. So let’s see what happens.”

Djokovic may well play at the Rome Masters, but it is clear that the two big tests on his horizon will come at next month’s French Open and that at Wimbledon a few weeks later.

The warrior inside Djokovic will still dare to believe that when he steps onto a Grand Slam stage, the story will change from what he has been producing for much of the last year.

Yet this latest defeat was not a major surprise and that highlights the change of mindset around this legendary champion.

His aura has gone and players like Arnaldi believe they can add his legendary name to their list of victims.

That change of mindset has removed one of Djokovic’s biggest weapons and if he goes out of the French Open and Wimbledon in the opening few rounds, the retirement question may well be answered for the most successful male tennis player of them all by the middle of July.

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Novak Djokovic’s opening match loss at the 2025 Madrid Open has drawn a reaction from two tennis coaching legends.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion was upset 6-3, 6-4 by 44th-ranked Matteo Arnaldi in Estadio Manolo Santana in the second round of the Masters event.

Djokovic made 32 unforced errors and was uncharacteristically poor in the pressure moments against the impressive 24-year-old Italian.

The world No 5 failed to save any of the three break points he faced, while he converted just one of the five break opportunities he created on the Italian’s serve.

The Serbian double faulted twice in a row to hand Arnaldi a service break in a crucial game when serving at 3-4 in the opening set.

When trailing 3-4 in the second set, Djokovic was unable to capitalise on a huge chance he had to break back at 0-40 on Arnaldi’s serve.

Brad Gilbert, a former coach of Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Coco Gauff, commented on X that it was “strange” to see Djokovic “trying to play so big and slap winners, especially on clay.”

The American, who was ranked as high as fourth during his playing days, then posted: “Father Time undefeated”, in reference to Djokovic.

Rick Macci, who has coached a host of future world No 1s — including both Serena and Venus Williams — also weighed in.

“No matter what he is still the JOKER,” the 70-year-old American wrote on X.

“But you can see the confidence on the dirt is not there and that affects the movement to play offense and defense from anywhere.

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“He needs a lot more matches on the Clay to prepare for the French the right way.”

Djokovic is on a three-match winless streak as his defeat to Arnaldi followed losses to Alejandro Tabilo in Monte Carlo and Jakub Mensik in Miami in his previous two matches. The 37-year-old lost all three of these matches in straight sets.

After his Madrid exit, Djokovic admitted his expectations for the tournament had been low — something he also said before his Monte Carlo campaign.

“I was hoping I can play one more match than I played in Monte Carlo,” the tennis great told the media. “Kind of new reality for me, I have to say. You know, trying to win a match or two, not really thinking about getting far in the tournament.

“It’s a completely different feeling from what I had in 20-plus years of professional tennis, so it’s kind of a challenge for me mentally to really face these kind of sensations on the court, going out early now regularly in the tournaments.

“But, you know, that’s, I guess, the circle of life and the career (smiling), eventually it was going to happen.”

Djokovic will look to bounce back from his brutal start to the clay season at the Masters 1000 tournament in Rome next month.

READ NEXT: Dominic Thiem rates Alexander Zverev’s Grand Slam hopes as he names French Open favourites

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Iga Swiatek matched an outstanding Serena Williams statistic as she kept her title defence at the 2025 Madrid Open on track.

The world No 2 earned a strong 6-4, 6-2 third round victory over Linda Noskova at the WTA 1000 clay tournament.

Swiatek has contested some tough battles with Noskova, who beat her at the 2024 Australian Open, but she has now won her last five matches against the Czech and leads the head-to-head 6-1.

“I’m happy with my focus and my attitude today,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview. “It wasn’t easy at the beginning, but I’m happy I just kept calm, even when Linda broke me. It was a good match for sure.

“Every match that [Noskova and I] played was really with high intensity, and really good quality. I knew it’s going to be a challenge, but I just kept being focused on myself. And we kind of know each other’s game. I’m happy that I was more solid at the end.”

The Pole is seeking her first title since she secured her fourth French Open crown and fifth Grand Slam overall in June last year. She has not reached a final since her Roland Garros triumph.

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Swiatek’s win against Noskova improved her win-loss record at the Madrid Open to a stellar 15-2 (88.2%) from the 17 matches she has played at the tournament.

In the process, she has equalled Serena Williams‘ record for the fewest matches taken to record 15 wins at the Madrid Open since the tournament was introduced.

Williams is a two-time Madrid Open winner, having won the event in 2012 and 2013, and she amassed a 20-3 record across her six appearances in the Spanish capital.

Swiatek made her Madrid debut in 2021, losing in the third round to Ashleigh Barty.

The 23-year-old missed the event in 2022 before reaching the final in 2023, when she was beaten by Aryna Sabalenka.

In 2024, Swiatek gained her revenge on Sabalenka in an epic Madrid championship match to claim her maiden title.

What next for Swiatek?

Swiatek will face world No 13 Diana Shnaider in the last 16 of the Madrid Open on Monday.

It will be her first meeting with the 21-year-old Russian star.

Shnaider dismantled 35-year-old Latvian Anastasija Sevastova 6-0, 6-0 in her third round match. Sevastova had upset Swiatek’s nemesis and recent Stuttgart Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the second round.

READ NEXT: The 9 women with the most WTA clay match wins: Chris Evert with 382, Steffi Graf 6th

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Novak Djokovic suffered yet another shock opening-match loss, this time to Matteo Arnaldi at the 2025 Madrid Masters.

Arnaldi, who collected his second victory over a top-five player, served out the match with ease for a 6-3, 6-4 win to move into the third-round of the ATP Masters 1000 event.

The last time that the former world No 1 left Madrid without a victory was back in 2013, when he lost to Grigor Dimitrov in the round of 32 in a three-set tussle.

This encounter, however, cannot be described as such, with Djokovic several levels below his Madrid best.

“Yeah, pretty much [it feels like a dream] without any doubt,” remarked the Italian.

“He’s my idol, he has always been, so I was just glad that I could play him [Djokovic] because I had never played him – just practised once.

“So, to play him on a stage like this was already a victory for me, but, he’s not at his best right now, so I came on the court to try to play my best tennis and win, and it happened.

“Right now, I don’t even know what to say.”

The Italian had battled through a tough three-set match in the first round against Born Coric, but looked far more comfortable in the Manolo Santana stadium, with a crucial hold at 4-3 in the second after facing three break points proving critical.

In the end, Arnaldi utilised his second match point to claim the biggest win of his career.

“At the start, I just tried to not s*** in my pants to be honest,” said the world No 44, who will next face Damir Dzumhur.

“That was the main thing because, when I got on this court – I had never even practised on this court – so you don’t know anything, you don’t know the points of the court.

“Playing him, I just tried to rally a bit at the start, try to make him make mistakes. Then, the tension started to go away, and he gave me a little bit in a few games.

“For sure, when I broke him, I knew that I was going to be broken back straight after, then I was like ‘ok, that’s a good start.’ After that, it was an escalation and it became quite a good match.

“I have to watch the match again. Like I said, I have been watching him play since I was a kid, nine, ten, I always tried to play like him, so, at that point [in the 4-3 game in the second set], we were pretty similar and I won that point.”

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Meanwhile, Djokovic has been struggling for victories in 2025 – having fallen the his first match at four of his last 5 events, with the exception being at the Miami Masters.

The Serb conceded 32 unforced errors and will need to significantly raise his level at the Rome Masters, if he wishes to capture an elusive 100^th singles title.

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Carlos Alcaraz’s admission that he went partying before his 2023 Wimbledon title run has resulted in a lecture from fellow Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut.

The 21-year-old Alcaraz has been setting the tennis world alight since his teens as he won his maiden Grand Slam at the age of 19 at the 2022 US Open and also became the youngest world No 1 in the process.

Needless to say, the expectations are sky high whenever he enters one of the big tournaments, but he followed up his maiden Grand Slam with some setbacks as he missed the 2023 Australian Open due to injury and then lost in the semi-final of the French Open.

After his Roland Garros exit, Alcaraz opted to take a break and in the recently released Netflix three-part series “Carlos Alcaraz, My Way” he revealed he partied “hard” in Ibiza despite his agent Albert Molina advising him not to go.

“I ended up going and they know what I’m going there to do,” the youngster said. “In Ibiza, I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty much all about partying and going out.

“I basically went there to reventar (literally, ‘burst’), I’m not sure if that’s the best way to put it but I went there to go out.

“I really made the most of it because I knew I might not get another three days like that.”

It didn’t do him any harm as he returned to action with new mindset and ended up winning the Queen’s Club Championship and followed it up with the Wimbledon crown.

Alcaraz added: “When I got back, I won Queen’s and Wimbledon. I’m not saying I won because of the partying but those days were good for me. And I believe if things are going well, you have to keep at it. I had to do it again this year!”

There was no Roland Garros heartbreak in 2024 as he won his first crown in Paris last year and he stuck to his word as he again went to Ibiza.

Although he failed to successfully defend his Queen’s Club title as he lost early, he still managed to win back-to-back Wimbledon titles as he defeated Novak Djokovic for a second consecutive year in the final.

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His unusual approach may have had success the past two years, but veteran player Bautista Agut, has cautioned the four-time major winner against partying too hard.

“I believe that top-level tennis demands a lot. I don’t think Carlos will win Grand Slams by going to bed at seven in the morning,” he told Spanish media.

“Tennis is very demanding, though everything seems beautiful now, he is very young; he has to understand that to match the achievements of the top three, he must play at a high level for fifteen years.

“I consider him intelligent; he will surely gradually realise what it takes to reach that high level and implement it.”

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Emma Raducanu admits there is one key area of her clay-court game that she needs to work on, although she acknowledges she is “not really sure how to improve that”.

The 22-year-old has limited experience playing on the red dirt as last year she featured in six matches for a 4-2 record, in 2023 she played only one match while in 2022 she completed 11 matches (6–5).

After winning her opening match at the 2025 Madrid Open, Raducanu followed it up with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 loss against 24th seed Kostyuk.

Despite getting only one win at the WTA 1000 event, the world No 49 is seeing her glass as half full.

“I think it’s positive to get through and play two matches on the outdoor clay courts,” she stated. “I would say that it is pretty noticeable to me that I don’t necessarily feel very comfortable, but I think that’s something that I can improve on and work on.

“And it is my second proper clay season and the first one in three years. So I think I’m just trying to give myself a chance to play as many points as I can on it, and also [I need] time on the court training as well.”

One of the most important features of being a successful clay-court player is the ability to move, especially slide, on the surface and the 2021 US Open winner admits she is yet to master the art.

“I found moving really difficult,” Raducanu added. “I felt like I was slipping around, but it was taking me a long time to get out of the corners and after the serve as well. I’m not really sure how to improve that, so I guess I’ll just take that back and try to work on it in the next week.”

The former world No 10 will now head back to the training court before she returns to action at the Italian Open with the tournament running from May 6 to 18 before the clay-court season comes to a conclusion at the French Open (May 25 to June 8).

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Former British player turned tennis pundit Colin Fleming feels Raducanu can enjoy a successful run on clay this year.

“Emma Raducanu is a competitor. She’ll be disappointed at this stage but I think when the dust settles there’s a lot to take from this match. This was a good level at times on a surface where she hasn’t played a lot of tennis recently,” he told Sky Sports Tennis.

“If she can keep working, keep finding her feet in the clay, her movement, her balance and just comfort on this surface. I think she can still have some great results in this clay-court season and I think it will serve her well for beyond that into the grass and the hard.

“A lot of positives to take from this one.”

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Tennis icon Boris Becker has voiced his concerns about Carlos Alcaraz’s mental health and questioned the way the Spaniard’s team are handling his career.

Prior to the start of the clay season, Alcaraz spoke candidly about the challenges he dealt with during a difficult period this year.

The four-time major champion described his opening match defeat to David Goffin at the Miami Open as the “final straw” and revealed he had considered stepping away from tennis “for months” afterwards.

“In the end, in these situations, you think about a lot of things, and when something that hurt you is so recent, you never really put it into perspective,” the 21-year-old said.

“A lot of thoughts come to mind: stop, stop for a week, skip a tournament, stop for several months, keep training, take a vacation, and then train for what’s next…

“A lot of thoughts came to mind, and one of the best things I did was take a few days off and give myself the opportunity to think clearly and put things into perspective, and then decide from there.”

Having taken a brief holiday with family after Miami, Alcaraz won the Monte Carlo Masters and reached the final of the Barcelona Open.

On an episode of his podcast with former WTA star Andrea Petkovic, Becker addressed Alcaraz’s struggles and asserted that the world No 3 needs to be protected by those around him.

“We’re talking about a 21-year-old who couldn’t cope with the expectations and the pressure anymore,” said the six-time Grand Slam champion. “We’re talking about mental health.

“Someone like that almost reached the point of depression. So those around him have to ask themselves: haven’t we done something wrong? Demanding too much of such a young player? He almost has to act like a machine… at 21 it’s hard to say no.

“We have to protect Carlos from himself. But the point is that you can see that he’s overexerting himself, he does too much and I really hope that whether it’s his coach or his manager or his father, they need to [communicate], because we still need him in ten years.

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“He’s the most spectacular player on the tour right now, he gets the most spectators in, has the largest fanbase, but he can’t play every week.”

The former world No 1 also shed light on a telling conversation he had with Alcaraz at the Laureus World Sports Awards ceremony in Madrid on Monday.

Becker told Alcaraz: “This isn’t a sprint, your life is a marathon.”

Intriguingly, Becker revealed that Alcaraz replied: “You’re right. Talk to my people.”

The German also shared an experience he went through at the same stage of his own career.

“I was also in that phase when I was 21 to 22, when you’re not doing it from your heart, you’re running from one commitment to the next, and the contracts are very high-paying, and the tournaments have signed contracts, which means you are contractually bound and only an injury can save you, but that is not how it should be, which is why I was worried for him,” he explained.

“I hope he will be fit again in time to defend his title at Roland Garros.”

READ NEXT: Dominic Thiem rates Alexander Zverev’s Grand Slam hopes as he names French Open favourites

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Emma Raducanu’s run at the 2025 Madrid Open is over after a three-set defeat to world No 36 Marta Kostyuk in the second round.

The British star fell 4-6, 6-2, 2-6 to the 22-year-old Ukrainian in a hard-fought contest on Court 4 at the WTA 1000 tournament.

Raducanu was broken in the opening game of the match before striking back to level at 3-3, but she lost serve for a second time in the seventh game as a competitive opening set slipped away.

The 2021 US Open champion responded superbly in the second set as she raced into a 2-0 lead, and while Kostyuk broke back in the third game, Raducanu broke twice more to take the set in decisive fashion.

In the decider, it was Kostyuk’s turn to react strongly to dropping a set by establishing a 2-0 advantage, but Raducanu drew level at two games apiece.

The Ukrainian was not to be denied, though, as she broke Raducanu’s serve at 2-2 and 4-2 en route to sealing victory after just over two hours and 10 minutes.

Raducanu had started her clay season with a 7-6(4), 6-4 victory over world No 73 Susan Lamens in the opening round in the Spanish capital.

The former world No 10 climbed from 49th to 47th in the Live WTA Rankings with the 35 points earned from her first round win, and she would have risen above 46th-ranked Lulu Sun had she progressed to the third round.

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Raducanu will remain on 1,139 points, and a deeper run in Madrid could have seen the Brit make a more significant rankings jump given she was defending only 10 points from last year’s Madrid Open — when she exited in the first round.

The 22-year-old should leave her first clay-court tournament in a year with plenty of positives, though, after a strong opening round win over Lamens and an encouraging performance against Kostyuk, who has been ranked as high as 16th in the world.

Prior to Madrid, Raducanu had not played since her impressive run to the Miami Open quarter-finals, having opted to pull out of Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup qualifying ties in the Netherlands, as well as the WTA 250 tournament in Rouen.

Raducanu is next set to compete at the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome, where she has only played once before — in 2022.

She will have further opportunities to improve her ranking in the coming weeks as she is defending no points until the grass season, having ended her 2024 clay campaign early after Madrid.

READ NEXT: Who is Emma Raducanu’s coaching team for the Madrid Open?

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