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Arthur Fils has divulged that his run to the Barcelona Open title was motivated by “awful” comments made about him by a journalist.

The French star secured his fourth ATP Tour title — and first since October 2024 — at the Barcelona Open earlier this month. It was Fils’ third title at ATP 500 level.

Fils won five matches to claim the trophy in Barcelona, and he has extended his winning streak to eight matches with his progress at the Madrid Open.

The 21-year-old saw off Ignacio Buse, Emilio Nava and Tomas Martin Etcheverry en route to the quarter-finals at the Masters 1000 event in the Spanish capital.

In a press conference in Madrid, Fils spoke about proving a journalist wrong with his Barcelona Open title.

“In Barcelona, I saw a journalist speak very badly about me. Really very badly,” Fils was quoted as saying by We Love Tennis (translated from French).

“So I was very happy to win the title, to prove him completely wrong.

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“I try not to react to these things, I try not to see them, but when they reach me, I have to read them and think about them.”

The world No 25 went on to declare that he did not remember exactly what the journalist said.

“I was very surprised by his comments and I didn’t appreciate the way he expressed himself,” he added. “But I think winning the title was the best response.

“I don’t remember exactly what he said, but it was awful.”

Following his fourth round win over Etcheverry in Madrid, Fils spoke about his impressive streak.

“It feels good, it’s a good habit. You get to the court, you play, you win, you go back to the hotel, you do your treatment, you come back the next day and you win again,” said Fils.

“It’s a really good thing, it’s not common, so when it happens I just enjoy it. For now I’m just trying to win one more, then we’ll see about those players who win 20 in a row or 17 in a row, for me right now it’s not possible, maybe someday.”

Fils’ run in Madrid has increased his points total by 190 to 1,930, which has lifted him seven places to 18th in the Live ATP Rankings.

READ NEXT: ‘Arthur Fils has world No 3 written all over him – and he will 100% bag a few Grand Slams’

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Casper Ruud was forced to fight for three hours in an epic match against a rejuvenated Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The Madrid Open reigning champion battled in the heat for 2 hours and 57 minutes against a Tsitsipas who showed signs of his old self.

It was the Greek who took the opening set by way of tie-break and the pair needed such an ending to decide every set of the thrilling encounter.

As to where the match was won, Tsitsipas will highlight his first serve as a room for improvement with just 73% of his first serve points won. Ruud on the other hand converted 82% of his.

But despite this, Tsitsipas kept himself in it by remaining calm under pressure, especially when it came to break points and he saved 11 of the 12 he faced.

Crucially, that one failure came late on with Ruud saving two match points before breaking Tsitsipas to push the deciding set into a tie-break.

The victory means Ruud is on a nine-match winning streak in Madrid and will now face the winner of Francisco Cerundolo and Alexander Blockx.

“I could have been going home already,” he said. “So just really happy and proud the way I fought back.

“The first two sets were really close, and obviously the score line said so as well.

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“The third set, I kind of felt like I had a better beginning. I had some break chances early on, I had a somewhat of an easy sitter forehand. The plan was to go big across, and then I changed my mind, just a split second before and I hesitated, and I went down the line and hit it on the top of the net.

“So those things you tend to remember, unfortunately, a bit too long. But that was a key kind of point for him and then he broke me in the next game. So that was two really tough games for me to kind of swallow.

“But we moved on and luckily, the last chance I had, I was able to break back and stay alive in the match.

“And also the tie break kind of turned it around. I was a little bit down in the beginning, but then I played some clutch points. I think that the return at three all in the tie break is kind of what maybe wins the match for me.

“I get a mini break, and then I play two good points behind my serve, 6-3 up. Feel like you’re just there, and then just managed to get one extra ball in, which was the key today.”

Despite the defeat, there were plenty of positives to take from the tournament for Tsitsipas who gained 50 ranking points and rose up five places to 75th.

Ruud remains 25th for the time being with plenty of points to lose should he fail to retain the tournament.

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Jannik Sinner has called for Madrid Open organisers to “make some adjustments” to the schedule after advancing to the quarter-finals at Caja Magica.

The world No 1 downed 23rd-ranked Cameron Norrie 6-2, 7-5 in the last 16 at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid.

Sinner‘s win in his first-ever meeting with the 30-year-old Brit was his 20th consecutive victory, and it took his Masters 1000 win streak to 25 matches.

The 24-year-old Italian is through to his second quarter-final at the Madrid Open, where he is chasing his maiden title.

In his on-court interview with Tennis TV, Sinner said: “We know each other quite well. We practised a lot in the last tournaments, also. So we both kind of knew what to expect.

“I felt like I was serving quite well today in the important moments. And this surface — it’s very, very different from all the other surfaces, so it’s very tough to get the right feedback.

“And sometimes, you feel like you’re not playing your best tennis, but from outside it seems like you are. And sometimes, it’s also the opposite.

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“But I’m very happy to be in the quarters here again. It’s a tournament I haven’t played a lot, so it means a lot to me, and happy to be through in two sets.”

When asked about the rare challenge of starting a match at 11am, Sinner questioned the scheduling at the Madrid Open.

“Yeah, quite unusual for me. I don’t know when was the last time when I played at 11,” said the four-time Grand Slam champion.

“But for me, doesn’t matter what time, I try to do my best. There was a question if me or [Rafael] Jodar plays at 4, but I think it’s right he plays at 4; he finished very, very late [in his previous match].

“But at the same time, I feel like we need to make some adjustments with the scheduling of the day. Two matches from 8 [pm] is very late, even though you have one day in between.

“But still, it’s very, very late; you finish at 1:30, and you need to eat, you need to have treatment, so it’s very late. But we try to adapt ourselves, our bodies and minds.

“From my side, it was a good performance today.”

Sinner will face either Jodar or Vit Kopriva in the last eight in Madrid.

READ NEXT: ‘I’m not sure Carlos Alcaraz will be ready for Wimbledon’, says Spanish tennis legend and expert

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Spanish tennis great Alex Corretja has cast doubt over the prospect of Carlos Alcaraz returning from his wrist injury in time to compete at Wimbledon.

Alcaraz has not played since he sustained the right wrist injury during his opening round win against Otto Virtanen at the Barcelona Open on 14 April.

The seven-time Grand Slam winner pulled out of Barcelona before his second round match and also withdrew from the Madrid Masters.

The world No 2 has since confirmed his clay-court season is over as he announced his withdrawal from both the Italian Open and the French Open — tournaments he won last year.

Angel Garcia Muniz, a Spanish journalist and tennis insider, has reported that Alcaraz is targeting a comeback on grass at the Queen’s Club Championships before Wimbledon.

Corretja, who is a commentator and analyst for Eurosport, spoke to Cadena COPE radio about Alcaraz’s injury.

“We need to be extremely patient,” said the two-time French Open finalist. “For now, we need to focus on the day-to-day, let the tendon heal as best as possible, and not set a specific date.

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“I have a feeling that after about a month and a half, during which he might be out of competition, we’ll see when he can resume training and start the grass court season.

“I don’t know if it will be easy, because on grass, you sometimes make bad movements, you get hit with even faster serves, and that can hurt your wrist.

“So I’m not sure he’ll be ready for Wimbledon. The problem is, I have no idea how far along his recovery is.”

The former world No 2 continued: “I just want him back as soon as possible, like everyone else, but for now, I’m thinking: ‘Look, we’ll see what happens.’

“I think they’re sticking to the timelines they’ve set for themselves, which are cautious.

“Announcing now that he won’t play Roland Garros means they need to treat the injury calmly.

“There’s no need to put pressure on him regarding his return date; he should come back when he feels ready.”

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Elena Rybakina suffered a surprise fourth round exit at the 2026 Madrid Open, and the defeat has damaged her hopes of catching world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

The world No 2 was upset 7-6(8), 6-4 by 56th-ranked Anastasia Potapova on Monday night in the fourth round in Madrid.

Rybakina served for the opening set at 5-4 and had a set point in a pulsating tiebreak before Potapova converted her third set point.

The two-time Grand Slam champion then led 4-2 in the second set, but Potapova won the next four games to seal a stunning triumph.

Potapova is competing as a lucky loser in Madrid, having lost to fellow Austrian Sinja Kraus in the final round of qualifying. The 25-year-old defeated Jelena Ostapenko and Zhang Shuai prior to her win over Rybakina.

“I got my second chance during this tournament, and I think I’m using it pretty (well). I’m just enjoying being here,” Potapova said in her on-court interview.

“She’s number two. She’s one of the best right now. Of course I’m feeling grateful for this win, but I don’t want to stop. I want to keep improving and maybe get closer to these girls in the meantime.”

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Rybakina began the Madrid Open on 8,500 points in second position — 2,395 points adrift of Sabalenka in top spot.

By reaching the last 16, Rybakina has improved her points total by 55 points to 8,555 as she bettered her third round result at the 2025 Madrid Open.

The 26-year-old Kazakh has, however, missed the opportunity to significantly close the gap to Sabalenka.

Sabalenka is the reigning champion in Madrid, which means she was defending 1,000 ranking points and was on 9,895 points in the Live WTA Rankings prior to the start of her campaign.

The 27-year-old Belarusian has collected 215 points by reaching the quarter-finals at Caja Magica, which has taken her points tally to 10,110 prior to her last eight match against Hailey Baptiste.

This puts Sabalenka 1,555 points ahead of Rybakina in the Live WTA Rankings.

Sabalenka is a firm favourite to defend her title as she is one of just two top 10 players in the quarter-final line-up along with world No 8 Mirra Andreeva.

If Sabalenka does secure her fourth Madrid Open crown, she will return to 10,895 points and be 2,340 points clear of Rybakina.

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The post How Elena Rybakina’s shock Madrid Open loss affects Aryna Sabalenka world No 1 chase appeared first on Tennis365.

Jannik Sinner has revealed whether he considered skipping the 2026 Madrid Open to rest after winning his previous three tournaments.

Prior to Madrid, Sinner began the clay-court season by securing his maiden title at the Monte Carlo Masters, where he defeated Carlos Alcaraz in the final. This triumph saw Sinner replace Alcaraz as the world No 1.

In March, Sinner won the back-to-back Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami to complete the Sunshine Double for the first time.

The 24-year-old Italian is just the second player to win Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo in the same season after Novak Djokovic in 2015.

Some had expected Sinner to pull out of Madrid given his exploits since the start of March, but he chose to compete, and he has extending his winning streak to 19 matches by bearing Benjamin Bonzi and Elmer Moller.

If Sinner secures the title at Caja Magica, he will become the first player in history to win the first four ATP Masters 1000 tournaments on the calendar.

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In an interview on Tennis Channel Live, Sinner was asked if it was always his plan to play in Madrid.

“I mean, yes and no,” the four-time major champion replied. “When I won, or when I finished there in Monaco, I said, you know, in three, four days we decide if we play or if we don’t play.

“I woke up quite good body-wise. I was like, why not? So we go here, we try how my body feels.

“Even though the body is the most important, and I will always protect it, also for future events and also for future years.

“I made choices last year. I made choices a couple of years ago by not playing certain events. When I feel like that’s the right thing to do, I’m always going to do it.

“And also, in the middle of tournaments, you know? When I feel like it’s getting too much for the body, I’m not scared to say no.

“But at the moment, I feel quite good. Also mentally, in a quite good position, even though I played a lot in the last month.

“So let’s see, but I’m happy to be here, I’m happy to play at least one more match here, and then we’ll see how it goes.”

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Aryna Sabalenka had to dig deep as she overcame an impressive performance from Naomi Osaka at the Madrid Open.

The World No 1 entered the clay tournament as the clear favourite but her progress to the fourth round looked under threat when Osaka won the opening set tie break.

But Sabalenka showed her class in the second, winning 6-3, which took the momentum out of Osaka and the deciding set finished 6-2.

When Sabalenka looks back on where she can improve from this match, undoubtedly the answer will be converting break points as she managed to finish just four of 14 presented opportunities. Osaka on the overhand was 100% with her one from one.

It was also a match with an unusually high number of double faults as Sabalenka hit six and Osaka five.

After her progression into the next round was confirmed, Sabalenka praised Osaka for performing at such a high level given her maternity leave with the contest lasting two hours and 20 minutes.

“That was an incredible level,” she said. “She played really incredible tennis. I feel like I just got lucky a couple of shots in the third set. That’s why it went that fast.

“But overall, it was a really incredible fight. I’m happy that she brought the fight. I had to fight through. I had to level up my game and I’m happy with the performance.

“She’s such an inspiration and coming back out of pregnancy in sport like tennis, it’s not that easy at all. And to see her back in the top 20, for sure, she’s going towards the top 10. It’s incredible. It’s inspiring.

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“She gives all of us hope that we can go for [have a] baby and we can come back and still play that level of tennis. It’s inspiring.”

Sabalenka was also asked about the praise of Brazilian fans given she is now married to one and said that helped push her through.

“My Brazilian fans, they’re the best. They turn on the volume at the right moment, and it really, really helped me. So, yeah, I really appreciated their support. So it’s honestly incredible to feel in the arena.”

The head-to-head is now 2-1 in Sabalenka’s favour who has beaten Osaka twice already this year.

Osaka’s win meanwhile came in 2018 at the US Open when she defeated the then-No 26 Sabalenka.

Sabalenka will now face World No 32 Hailey Baptiste in the quarter finals while Osaka has gained 17 ranking points from the tournament.

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World No 4 Iga Swiatek has shared a message on social media after she was forced to retire at the 2026 Madrid Open on what she described as “a real rough day.”

The six-time Grand Slam champion retired due to a virus when trailing 6-7(4), 6-2, 0-3 against world No 34 Ann Li in the third round in Madrid.

Swiatek is next set to compete at the Italian Open, which will be held from 5 to 17 May. The former world No 1 won the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome in 2021, 2022 and 2024.

In a post on her Instagram account, Swiatek wrote: “What can I say? It was a real rough day.

“It stings not having full control over my performance or being in charge of every decision.

“Today is a bit better and I’ll take the next day or two to recover fully. Then we’ll push forward with more hard work.

“I’m pretty excited for the next one in Rome.”

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Tennis legend Boris Becker, a former world No 1 and winner of six majors, replied to Swiatek’s post.

The German wrote: “Don’t be too hard on yourself!

“Even the greatest champions lose sometimes… you have great people by your side! Upwards and Onwards IGA.”

Following her retirement in Madrid, Swiatek said: “I’ve been feeling awful for the last two days. I think I have some kind of virus. Some hours I’ve been fine, but other times I’ve been feeling really bad.

“I’ve heard there’s something going around in the locker room, a virus that’s out there somewhere. I know I’ll be fine in a couple of days, but today I felt like I had zero energy, zero stability.

“I’ve been feeling really bad physically; yesterday was even worse. I thought maybe things would be better today, and maybe they were, but not enough to play that much.

“I knew it was going to be tough, but I still wanted to try, because I’ve been sick a couple of times in my career and I was able to win most of my matches. It depended on how bad I was going to feel, and this time it was quite a bit worse than the previous times.”

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Elena Rybakina says she has no “trust” in the electronic line-calling system after a controversial point during her match against Zheng Qinwen in the Madrid Open.

The World No 2 rallied to win after losing the first set but was left annoyed after one point was called in favour of her opponent by the electronic system.

A serve was called an ace but Rybakina remonstrated with the umpire, asking that the official come down and see the visible mark left on the clay surface.

After the match, Rybakina said there was not even a mark close to what the TV had suggested.

“The system is wrong, this is not a joke,” Rybakina said. “I won’t trust it at all. Because there was no mark even close to what the TV showed.”

Rybakina likened it to an incident involving Alexander Zverev last year at the same tournament with the German taking a photo of a shot he believed was out but the system said was in.

“It was, I think, similar to what Zverev had last year because it was in front of her (the umpire’s) nose,” she said.

“You can’t not see it. It was pretty frustrating. It’s kind of a stolen point. I understand it was her serve and she was serving really well, but it’s really frustrating.”

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Zverev received a warning for taking a photo while Aryna Sabalenka received the same punishment for doing the same offence during her quarter-final victory at the Stuttgart Open last year.

While not only being the cause of the controversial point, it was the serve of Zheng that had been proving difficult for Rybakina and she made note to praise her opponent despite beating her in four of their five meetings.

“I think the level of the match was better than the first one,” Rybakina said. “I think my serve was better, but Qinwen, she is a tough opponent. She was serving really well. She was also returning all my serves. I don’t think that the serve was really an issue today.

“So yeah, I’m just happy that I took the opportunity in the second set. I was fighting, trying to always stay close. Somehow again, another three-set match, but I’m happy.”

Rybakina will face Anastasia Potapova in the next round on Monday.

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Joao Fonseca candidly admitted his attitude on court “needs to be better” after his third round defeat to Rafael Jodar at the 2026 Madrid Open.

The world No 31 was beaten 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-1 by 42nd-ranked Jodar on Sunday night at the clay-court Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid.

It was Fonseca‘s first match of the event as he received a walkover from scheduled second round opponent Marin Cilic after getting a first round bye.

After being broken to fall 0-2 behind in the third set, Fonseca’s frustration boiled over as he destroyed his racket on the court.

Fonseca’s racket is GONE 👀 pic.twitter.com/MgyhP7dX8c

— Tennis Masterr (@tennismasterr) April 26, 2026

The Brazilian did not recover as Jodar raced into a 5-0 lead before sealing the win in emphatic fashion.

In his press conference, Fonseca assessed that mentality was the most important aspect of the match against his fellow 19-year-old.

“Naturally, there was a strategy from a technical standpoint,” Fonseca said.

“However, I believe the most important aspect of today’s match was the mental one. We both stepped onto the court with a certain degree of nervousness, which is completely normal.

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“It was my first match in Madrid, while for him it was his third. Furthermore, we were two young players facing each other, which inevitably leads us to overthink things.

“I had the opportunity to break his serve right at the start. At the beginning of the third set, I felt better, even better than him. I had more control of the match.

“However, after going up 40-15, when I missed some easy forehands, frustration set in. Clearly, my attitude on the court needs to be better. It’s something we need to work on.

“From that moment on, he played better, with less nervousness, and found the right way to take control.

“In that sense, I feel it was definitely a tough match. My main focus was on the mental aspect, as I knew we were both under pressure. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to manage it in the third set.”

Fonseca also praised Jodar and addressed the challenge of facing a player younger than him.

“He’s a great player, achieving impressive results and climbing the rankings very quickly. He has all the qualities to become an extraordinary player,” he said.

“As I said, facing a younger opponent on the ATP Tour made me a little nervous. It’s a situation we have to get used to and see how we respond to it.

“I’m still working, trying to find aspects that will help me improve both as a person and as a player. I continue to progress, and that’s the key point.

“Going back on the court, reflecting in the following days on what I could have done better, what attitude would have been more appropriate, and working on it.”

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