Former world No. 9 Roberto Bautista Agut called out the Madrid Open organizers as he is stunned that there could be a tournament in Spain that is not distributing the majority of its wildcards to Spanish players.
In late 2021, it was announced that American company IMG was purchasing the Madrid Open from ex-Grand Slam champion Ion Tiriac. Since then, wildcards have been distributed a bit differently as players represented by IMG usually have the edge in the wildcard selection.
Bautista Agut, a 2019 Wimbledon semifinalist, is currently ranked at No. 86 in the world and he didn’t come anywhere near making the Madrid main draw cut. In the past, Bautista Agut would have surely received a wildcard into Madrid but it wasn’t the case this year.
As a result, Bautista Agut entered the qualifying field, where he defeated Amir Omarkhanov before losing to Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the final round. Despite not making it past the qualifying event, Bautista Agut still made the main draw as a lucky loser and defeated Daniel Elahi Galan to set up a second-round meeting against Karen Khachanov.
Roberto Bautista Agut © Getty Images Sport – Julian Finney
Bautista Agut calls out the Madrid event over wildcard distribution
This year, only two Spanish male players received wildcards into Madrid – Martin Landaluce and Pablo Llamas Ruiz.
“I had to play the qualifying, that’s all. The truth is that I expected to receive a wildcard, but hey, I have always been in a privileged position, listening to my colleagues complaining,” Bautista Agut said, via Punto de Break.
“I understand that the tournament is owned by iMG and favors its clients, I understand that they look after their own interests, but I do not agree that this tournament has huge amounts of money from sponsors and Spanish institutions and that this is of no use.
“That doesn’t happen anywhere in the world, in any country, in any of the tournaments I play in, where we see something like that. This only happens here.”
Roberto Bautista Agut © Getty Images Sport – Megan Briggs
It remains to be seen how far Bautista Agut can now go after entering Madrid as a lucky loser.
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