Real Madrid's stadium Santiago Bernabéu won't be used for football matches again until May 14 (their next three matches in LaLiga are away, in Seville and Barcelona), so the stadium has been temporarily transformed into clay tennis courts, to be used for training during the Madrid Open, already underway and ending on Sunday, May 3. And some of the first players to test it were... Jannik Sinner, Rafa Nadal, Thiabut Courtois, and Jude Bellingham.
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The unlikely team played a five-minute rally without telling anyone (the press was not invited). The current World No. 1 Jannik Sinner teamed up with Nadal, former World No. 1 who retired in 2024, and played against Thibaut Courtois and Jude Bellingham, with Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez as the "chair umpire".
World No. 4 in the WTA Iga Swiatek and women's Real Madrid forward Linda Caicedo also played for a while during the presentation of the tennis courts at the Bernabéu behind closed doors. Despite the unusual sight of seeing the giant, roofed football stadium with tennis courts inside, it will not open to the public and no games will be played there, only training.
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