Crazy Masters in Madrid. Demolishing the favourites and Lehecka on the threshold of a lifetime success

This season is very wild compared to previous ones. The Masters in Madrid symbolizes it. And maybe even more than that. The biggest stars failed to make it here, while Jiri Lehecka and other players nobody expected will play in the semi-finals.

Losers

The year 2024 was expected to be marked by tennis players fighting for the world number one position. But neither the Italian Sinner nor the home star Alcaraz will succeed in Madrid.

Both challengers to world number one Djokovic were limited by health. Alcaraz fell to Rublev in the quarter-finals and Sinner retired against Auger-Aliassime.

Alcaraz continues a disappointing season, triumphing at the Masters in Indian Wells but failing elsewhere. Sinner, on the other hand, is not building on his great results on hard clay.

Even this year’s record holder Ruud has not confirmed his position. The winner of the most duels on the ATP circuit in the current year failed to beat Auger-Aliassime in the eighth round.

Russia’s Medvedev retired in the quarterfinals after losing a set to Lehecka. The story of Djokovic, who has whittled his participation in tournaments down to the very marrow, is a separate chapter in a book called ATP 2024.

Winners

This opens up a huge opportunity for a quartet of semi-finalists in Madrid. It is great that the Czech tennis number one is among them.

Jiri Lehecka turned his clay court debut into a huge success. His win over Nadal was the first highlight of the tournament. The native of Mladá Boleslav achieved his best position on the ATP ranking and is attacking the elite 20.

Already by reaching the semi-finals, the twenty-two year old player has already pushed his best at Masters tournaments. Lehecek’s top performance at tournaments of this level so far was the quarterfinals of Indian Wells. He shone in California two months ago.

Among his competitors is Canadian Auger-Aliassime, who last played in the semifinals of the Masters in 2022. Specifically, it was in Paris. He has never made the semifinals at such a major event.

The Russian Rublev showed his qualities at the most opportune moment. In recent months, he has been rather accompanied by disappointment and outpourings of emotions after the failed moments of matches. In the semi-finals of the Madrid event, he will challenge the American Fritz.

The former world number five was in great spirits on the clay in Munich. Fritz played the final there a week ago, where he fell to the home team’s Struff.

In the Spanish capital, the 26-year-old can move up to 11th in the ATP rankings. The final line-up will be decided on Friday evening.

Source: ATP, X