The Madrid Masters has a relatively short history compared to other major tournaments of this category in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Rome and other cities. The capital of Spain received the right to host the competition only in 2002. Then the former professional tennis player and successful businessman Ion Tiriac decided to realize his long-standing dream of becoming the organizer of a prestigious tournament. He bought an ATP license to compete in the Madrid Masters, which replaced Stuttgart on the calendar. Tsiriak not only launched a top-tier tournament from scratch, but also simultaneously launched a promotional campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games in the Spanish capital.
“I hope to have, although not the biggest, but the best tournament in the world,” Cyriac said.
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With all his actions, Tsiriak tried to justify these words. In 2004, to popularize the tournament, he even attracted bright girls from modeling agencies as big girls, but first the Madrid Arena was built, with a capacity for about 12 thousand spectators. From October 14 to 20, 2002 he hosted the first Master in the capital of Spain. Almost all the strongest tennis players gathered in the tough tournament with a prize fund of 2.328 million dollars. The Australian number one in the world, Lleyton Hewitt, did not play due to a cold, but his followers in the ranking, the American Andre Agassi, the German Tommy Haas, the Russian Marat Safin and the British Tim Henman, did arrive in Madrid.
Andre Agassi at the 2002 Madrid Masters
Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
The tournament was of particular importance to Agassi, 32, who wanted to unseat Hewitt and finish the year as the oldest world number one in tennis history (in the end, the plan could not be achieved and Lleyton remained in the lead). head). . Furthermore, André was intrigued by the very fact of performing in Madrid.
“This is amazing for me. At the end of my career, there was a city I had never performed in. And even as big as Madrid,” Agassi argued.
Surprisingly, Haas, Safin and Henman were eliminated simultaneously in the second round. This greatly simplified the task of winning the title for Agassi, who on the way to the final beat his compatriot Jan-Michael Gambill (6:4, 6:4), the Spaniards Feliciano López (7:6, 6:7 , 7:5 ) and Juan Carlos Ferrero (6:3, 6:2), as well as the Frenchman Sebastian Grosjean (6:4, 3:6, 6:4).
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Agassi’s opponent in the decisive match was Czech Jiri Novak, seeded eleventh. Overall, Jiri was more confident in the tournament, although he also lost sets to his opponents twice. But in the semi-finals he easily defeated the Frenchman Fabrice Santoro (6-2, 6-4) in just 67 minutes and spent clearly less energy than Agassi in the confrontation with Grosjean.
Andre was considered the favorite for the final, but Novak, fresher and five years younger, was expected to at least put up some serious resistance. Ion Tiriac, Gerard Tsobanyan (president of the Madrid tournament) and Manolo Santana (director) did everything possible to ensure that all the tickets for the decisive match of the debut Masters in the capital of Spain were sold out. But in the end disappointment awaited both the leaders of the competition and tennis fans.
Agassi received the title without entering the court. Jiri Novak withdrew from the final match shortly before kick-off due to a muscle strain in his right leg. Jiri apologized and stated that he felt pain even during the match with Santoro in the semifinals. He hoped that everything would be fine for the decisive match, but the situation only got worse and he did not find the strength to go out on the field.
Tsiriak, Tsobanyan and Santana appeared disappointed and perplexed at Agassi’s awards ceremony for the first time in a week. Still, they expected to see an intense battle. Andre himself was clearly not very happy with that title, as he preferred to win it in a fair fight.
Jiri Novak and Andre Agassi at the ceremony of the failed Masters final in Madrid
Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
For Agassi, this was the 15th Masters victory of his career (at the time a record for the ATP circuit) and the third of the season after Miami and Rome. The only active tennis player to win all four Grand Slam tournaments, he also won seven of the nine Masters tournaments: all except the spring clay court competitions in Monte Carlo and Hamburg, where he often simply did not attend, preferring to participate in April. . in smaller tournaments in the US on this surface or simply spending time with his beloved Steffi Graf, whom he married in October 2001 and later welcomed his son Jayden into the world. Agassi continued to make notable achievements at age 32. At that time, the younger principled rival, Pete Sampras, stopped performing for a year and seriously considered ending his career.
“I think I have extra motivation coming to Monte Carlo and Hamburg to try to win the titles there. But to win you have to unite many things. There are planning issues and decisions about my personal life that I have to make throughout the year. Although Master’s degrees are a goal that I would like to achieve. I know Pete can retire, but those thoughts don’t inspire me. I think we are in two completely different positions in this regard. My body can handle the load, so I won’t make predictions. I have no idea how long I will be able to play at a high level. But mentally I am still determined to improve and win,” Agassi said at a press conference in Madrid.
Andre Agassi at a press conference after the final of the Madrid Masters in 2002
Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
It is not appropriate to blame Jiri Novak for the “ruined final”, although some fans believed that the Czech could at least try to go out on the court and play with Agassi. After all, we are talking about the final of a great tournament, especially the debut in Madrid. It didn’t look exactly the same as the withdrawals of Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev due to injury before and during this year’s quarterfinals.
It is very rare that decisive matches are not played at this level. Something similar happened in 1998, when the Spanish Albert Costa could not play in the final against the Chilean Marcelo Ríos due to health problems. Roger Federer’s withdrawal from the 2014 final against Novak Djokovic also caused a stir, which his semi-final opponent, Stan Wawrinka, did not like very much.
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In general, the final of the first Madrid Masters was not held. But overall, the debut tournament can be considered a success. During the week, the stadium in the capital of Spain was visited by 103,876 spectators, the seventh best result of the 2002 season, taking into account the Grand Slam tournaments. At the same time, Tsiriak promised all ticket holders for the failed final free passes to the Masters next year, which did not seem like the worst decision in the current situation.
