What happens at the Mutua Madrid Open if the curfew comes in the middle of a match?

Madrid hosts until May 9 the Mutua Madrid Open, a tournament in which the best tennis players from both the women’s and men’s circuits meet. The Spanish capital celebrates the return of tennis and the return of the public to the stands to witness a great sporting event like this one, complying with a strict sanitary protocol. The existing curfew at 11 p.m. determines the night session of the tournament, but the organization has established a plan to comply with the rules. Two years later, the ball bounces again on the clay of the Caja Mágica. Madrid celebrates it, as well as the return to the fans’ stands to experience the matches of the best tennis players that the Mutua Madrid Open brings together until May 9. The situation requires a rigorous protocol: no more than 40% of the capacity is allowed, the temperature of the attendees is taken, the distance is maintained, etc. In addition, another aspect to take into account has to do with the limitation of mobility that exists from 11:00 p.m., which affects the night session.Although the Mutua Madrid Open has already started, it will not be until next week , with the start of the men’s competition, when the days get much longer and go from the current single session to two sessions: day and night. For this second, the existing curfew in the Community of Madrid from 23:00 hours has been especially taken into account. Fans who have bought tickets for the night session know that they will not be able to enter the venue until 7:00 p.m. to witness the matches that the order of play for each day establishes in that session, but when should they leave the venue? What happens if the matches are extended beyond 23:00?Without reaching limits as extreme as those experienced during the 2019 Davis Cup, it would not be the first time that a day lasts until dawn at the Mutua Madrid Open. The current limitation of mobility in the Community of Madrid from 11:00 p.m. prevents the presence of the public in the stands after this time, so the tournament organizers have established what to do in this case. The tournament has made an effort to try to schedule the matches so that they do not extend beyond curfew, but it is a difficult situation to control as tennis matches do not have a set duration. In the event that a match is to last longer than 11:00 p.m., the fans will be evacuated with enough time to comply with the rules and trying not to impair the development of the game. According to the Mutua Madrid Open, “In the event that a game continues to be played 30 minutes before the time established for the start of the mobility limitation, it will be suspended for the time necessary to vacate the stadium, and the game will be resumed behind closed doors.” The organization reserves a margin of action of twenty minutes to make a decision on when to evict the fans. «Depending on the development of the game, in order to avoid a stoppage harmful to the game, the organization may adopt this decision with a margin of 10 minutes before or after the 30 minutes before the time established for the start of the limitation of mobility ”, they explain.