The clay season is well underway and the Madrid Open 2023 is the next checkpoint on the calendar, with both the ATP and WTA tour’s heading to the Spanish capital.

The Madrid Open is one of the most prestigious tennis tournaments played every year on a clay surface. It is held every year in the historical city of Madrid, Spain. It is a part of the ATP Tour. The event is a Masters 1000 tournament. It became an annual event in the tennis calendar in 2002.

The Madrid Open is becoming a 12-day event for the first time in its history, with the WTA main draw kicking off the event on the 25th April and the men’s singles final and women’s doubles final concluding the tournament on the 7th May.

The tournament’s most successful winner and Spain’s greatest tennis professional Rafael Nadal will not be playing in the tournament this time around. He cited still-lingering fitness issues.

“The last few weeks and months have been difficult,” Nadal said in a video published on social media on Thursday. “As you know, I picked up a significant injury in Australia, to my psoas. First it was going to be a six to eight-week recovery period, we’re in the 14th week and the reality is that the situation is not what we expected.

“In any case, I have followed the medical advice but the progress has not been as they told us at the beginning. We find ourselves in a difficult situation, the weeks are passing by. I was excited to play in the most important tournaments in my career such as Monte-Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Roland Garros. So far, I’ve missed Monte-Carlo and Barcelona and I also wanted to tell you that I won’t be able to be in Madrid.”

After losing in the quarter-finals of the Banja Luka Open on Friday, it’s another setback for Novak Djokovic, who will now not be competing at the Madrid Open. A statement from the tournament wished the Serbian 22-time Grand Slam winner “a speedy recovery”, without specifying the reason for his withdrawal.

While no specific reason was given for Djokovic’s withdrawal, he did discuss issues with his elbow recently, mostly downplaying the extent of the problem.

“My elbow is not in an ideal shape but good enough to be ready for the first match,” Djokovic told press on Monday ahead of his Srpska Open debut. “One of the good things in tennis is that you get a new opportunity to prove your worth every week and take a step forward. I’ve turned over a new leaf.”

Rafael Nadal has won this competition 5 times while Novak Djokovic has thrice. Hence, if both the legends are absent from the competition, it can give the new and younger generation players an opportunity to win the tournament. There are some exciting players such as Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune, Casper Ruud, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, and Taylor Fritz amongst others who will keep the level of competition high and try to win this title.

The women’s field is crowded, but keep tabs on 2011, 2015 and 2018 Madrid winner Petra Kvitova, the Czech lefty that just won her 30th career title last month in Miami. Conditions can be tricky in Madrid, where elevation at the Caja Magica (2150 feet/650 meters) creates tricky ball speeds for the players. World No. 3 Jessica Pegula fell at the final hurdle against Jabeur a year ago, who hoisted her biggest-ever trophy here 12 months ago.

The Tunisian trailblazer looks confident again after minor surgery in February, while Caroline Garcia and Coco Gauff are other ones to watch, too.