Madrid Open unveils expansion plans that impress Carlos Alcaraz and Coco Gauff

The Mutua Madrid Open is soon break ground on another stadium at the sprawling Caja Mágica. Plans for the venue's expansion were revealed prior to the start of this year's tournament this week in a press event that featured the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez Almeida, as well as architect Dominique Perrault, and players Carlos Alcaraz and Coco Gauff.

Construction will begin after the 2026 tournament concludes, and is expected to be finished by 2028.

The new court is expected to have a capacity for 8,600 spectators, which will make it the second-largest court at the Caja Mágica, which opened in 2009 as part of Madrid's losing bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games. The main stadium, named for Spanish legend Manolo Santana, seats over 12,000 and is the largest clay-court stadium in the sport outside of Roland Garros.

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Perrault, who first designed the complex, said that the new stadium is inspired by another iconic Spanish sporting locale: a bullring. Martínez Almeida added that an expansion of this magnitude was necessary to keep the tournament as best-in-class.

“With this expansion, we will be on par with any other major sports venue in the tennis world and will be able to become the best tournament in this category,” he said. “We want to continue combining the best of our architecture with the best of sports practice; it’s what makes us recognizable."

According to reports, the project will cost more than €29 million ($33 million), will be jointly financed by Madrid's city council and Madrid Trophy Promotion, the Spanish group that operates the tournament.

The news, which according to Spanish media is part of an agreement between the two parties to keep the tournament in Madrid until at least 2030, follows other reports from earlier this year which claimed that the Italian tennis federation made a £436 million bid to acquire the calendar slot currently held by Madrid, and expand the tournament in Rome to two weeks.