In her latest Sky Sports column, Gigi Salmon reflects on a sensational women’s Madrid Open final, Andrey Rublev’s fairytale ending after a remarkable week, Rafael Nadal’s emotional goodbye, Madrid’s guest list, the family wagon, and looks ahead to the Italian Open in Rome…

All tennis roads at the moment are leading to the French capital and Roland Garros, which starts at the end of the month. If Madrid is anything to go by, we are in for a treat in the women’s tournament while keeping our fingers crossed that some of the top contenders in the men’s are fit and healthy!

‘Where were you when…’ is something that’s asked about an unforgettable moment or event, and in tennis circles can almost certainly be applied to the Madrid women’s final, when in a repeat of the 2023 showpiece world No 1 Iga Swiatek faced defending champion Aryna Sabalenka.

Three hours and 11 minutes of enthralling, high quality, high octane tennis, with both players refusing to back down. It was an incredible display, decided by the smallest of margins and going right to the wire with Swiatek taking it in the third-set tie-break having saved three Championship points.

One observer remarked that ‘it’s the kind of match that brings people into tennis’. It was a pleasure to be courtside in the Caja Magica and I’ve been wracking my brain ever since to try and come up with a match I’ve watched live that was better.

With the win Swiatek, still only 22 (she turns 23 at the end of the month) has now won her past seven finals, she is over 3,000 points clear of Sabalenka in the rankings. It was her third title of the year, ninth WTA 1000 title and 20th of her young career.

It also completes the prestigious clay set adding it to her three Roland Garros titles, two in Rome and two in Stuttgart.

For Sabalenka the run to the final confirms that she will remain as the world No 2 and despite saying the loss was tougher having had the Championship points, she says she is proud of herself and was quickly on a flight to Rome where she celebrated her 26th birthday on Sunday.

The dreaded cannon

Something that did comes as a surprise to Swaitek was the cannon that was moved into position beside the court and right next to where we were standing, ready to shoot out celebratory ribbons onto the court.

We had been warned that this was going to happen and that it would be loud a number of times, but when the time came it didn’t stop Anne ducking for cover, I jumped and Colin didn’t move a muscle!

The cannon was back in action on the Sunday for the men’s final and once again it took us by surprise! Another surprising part of Sunday was a near three-hour final, considering that a handful of games in Andrey Rublev looked pale and listless with the whispers going around that he had been ill with a high temperature overnight.

Little did we know what had really been going on! Having gone a set down to the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, Rublev started to find his range, his confidence and probably thanks in part to the adrenaline that was coursing through him with this being a Masters 1000 final he also found his voice.

As Rubelv’s shots got more penetrating as the match went on, Auger-Aliassime, whose route to the final included two retirements and a walkover, fell away and sadly for the Canadian it would be a double fault that would confirm Rublev as the 2024 Madrid Open Champion, his second at Masters level.

Rublev’s confession

What followed when he came to join us on Sky Sports Tennis was a jaw-dropping account of what he had been going through in Madrid, from a swollen throat, so painful he could only eat baby food and a toe so inflamed that it affected the bone and he couldn’t fit it in his shoe – and that his next stop once his post-match media was done would be to hospital for tests!

Despite the physical pain he had been going through he described it as a ‘fairytale week’, going on to say: “I’m so negative about myself, always, but for the first time I feel so proud of myself”.

We wish him well and a speedy recovery and, as I write this, he is still on the entry list for Rome which has seen a handful of withdrawals on the men’s side including Carlos Alcaraz (arm) Jannik Sinner (hip) and Jiri Lehecka ,while defending Champion Daniil Medvedev is still in but he had to retire due to injury against Lehecka in Madrid.

From a British point of view there will be no Andy Murray or Emma Raducanu in Rome, while in the main draw are Katie Boulter, Cam Norrie, Jack Draper, who as Simon Briggs revealed in The Telegraph last week has brought in Wayne Ferreria as a consultant to work alongside his main coach James Trotman, and Dan Evans who pulled out of Madrid with a calf problem.

An emotional goodbye to Nadal

Before we get to Rome a couple more things from Madrid that included an emotional goodbye to five-time champion Rafael Nadal, who has more than likely after suggesting that this will be his last year on tour played his final match in the Spanish capital, bowing out to Jiri Lehecka in the round of 16, a couple of rounds further than a lot of people thought he would get. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house as he spoke to the crowd, but plenty of positives for Nadal to take as he looks to see out this season.

Elsewhere and new rules designed by the ATP to spice up men’s doubles came into play in Madrid.

More singles vs doubles action, a streamlined schedule and a drive to make the matches quicker are the headlines and on the whole the reaction has been positive.

Benefiting from one of the slots reserved for players using their singles rankings were the champions Seb Korda and Jordan Thompson who became Masters Champions for the first time! The trial will continue at select events throughout the course of the season.

Madrid guestlist & what happened to the ‘family wagon’?

I’m not sure the Madrid guestlist will be topped any time soon with King Felipe in attendance to watch Nadal, later in the tournament his mother, former Queen Sofia, former world No 1 and newly retired Garbine Muguruza and from the world of football: Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Vinicius Jr, Raul, Petr Cech and Diego Simeone to name just a few.

Keeping the car theme in my column going, in Madrid a message appeared on the WhatsApp group chat to say that one of the hire cars had broken down.

It meant an early trip to site for one member of the team to meet the mechanic and try and fix the ‘family wagon’. A lot of head scratching followed before, with actions sometimes speaking louder than words, the very helpful local mechanic produced a can of fuel, put it in the car and the mystery was solved!!! Still to be determined who was in charge of filling up the car!

Also for one couple from the UK over in Madrid for the tennis, they were very surprised to see a large part of the Sky Sports Tennis team soaking wet from the rain lining up behind them in a popular fast food restaurant at 11pm on Sunday night.

With the tennis finished, kit packed away and a 5am alarm call for an early flight home it was just what was needed on our final night in the Spanish capital.

The turnaround is tight to Rome with action starting today with WTA matches on the schedule before the ATP matches kick in on Wednesday and a draw featuring six-time champion Novak Djokovic and 10-time champion Rafael Nadal, and I’m looking forward to being joined by Tim Henman, Annabel Croft and Liam Broady in the studio.

What’s coming up on Sky Sports Tennis?

In the run-up to the second Grand Slam of 2024 – the French Open at Roland Garros from May 26 – you can watch all of the biggest tennis stars in action live on Sky Sports as they compete across the clay-court season.

• Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome (ATP and WTA Masters 1000) – May 7-19
• Geneva Open (ATP 250) – May 20-26
• Lyon Open (ATP 250) – May 20-26
• Internationaux de Strasbourg (WTA 500 with Emma Raducanu in action) – May 20-26
• Morocco Open (WTA 250) – May 20-26

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