Djokovic, Nadal and Federer: the Big Three sign up for the Madrid Open

The list of players who have registered for the ATP Masters 1,000 tournament and the players who will do so in the WTA 1,000 category are officially known. These are the protagonists of the Mutua Madrid Open 2021, which will take place from April 27 to May 9 at the Caja Mágica.

Novak Djokovic, the player who has occupied the first position of the ATP Rankings in the Open Era for the most weeks, will be in charge of heading the poster for this edition. The Serbian will return to defend the crown that he lifted in 2019 and that he has won a total of three times (also in 2011, 2016).

It will not be easy for him, because among the rivals who will join the battle, Rafael Nadal stands out above the rest.. Nobody has won the title more times than the Spanish (2005, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2017) and this time he will accumulate his eighteenth participation in the tournament – the record figure he will share with Fernando Verdasco.

And the icing on the cake is put by the presence of Roger Federer, winner in the three surfaces that the Mutua Madrid Open has hosted (hard covered court, clay and blue clay). On the verge of turning 40, the Swiss intends not to miss his appointment with the Madrid public.

Beyond these great names, the Caja Mágica will have the opportunity to see on its clay courts players who have recently won the title of candidates for the crown in any tournament such as Daniil Medvedev, Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev or Stefanos Tsitsipas. For their part, Andrey Rublev or Matteo Berrettini will play for the first time.

As for the local players, they have achieved a direct ticket to the final draw Roberto Bautista, Pablo Carreño, Albert Ramos and Alejandro Davidovich, joining the recently announced wild cards of Carlos Alcaraz and Fernando Verdasco.

A top-level WTA draw

In the women's draw, Kiki Bertens will return to Madrid clay as the last woman who was able to lift the title. The Dutch, who has played two consecutive finals (2018, 2019), is the tenth name on a list headed by Ashleigh Barty, the world No. 1 and recent WTA 1000 champion from Miami.

Petra Kvitova, the player who has won the trophy the most times (2011, 2015, 2018), as well as Simona Halep, the one that accumulates the most finals (2014, 2016, 2017, 2019), will also be part of the poster. As well as the rest of the active rackets that know what it is to be No. 1 in the world as Garbiñe Muguruza, Naomi Osaka, Karolina Pliskova, Angelique Kerber or Victoria Azarenka.

Among the top ten in the world, other names such as Sofia Kenin, Elina Svitolina, Aryna Sabalenka or Bianca Andreescu also appear on the WTA list. While Grand Slam champions such as Iga Swiatek or Svetlana Kuznetsova are also part of the 47 women who enter this Mutua Madrid Open 2021 directly.