This year’s Madrid Open being cancelled was a consequence of the Coronavirus, as all tournaments were from April onwards. It is already starting to look unlikely that any professional tennis tournaments will take place before the end of the year, with the Australian Open won by Novak Djokovic possibly the only Grand Salm to take place in 2020.

It’s a great thing, then, that the Virtual Madrid Open is taking place this week. Over the course of the next few days, vital funds for tennis professionals at the grass roots level who might be struggling with no appearance fees will be supported by funds raised by some of the best players in the world.

The opening two matches in the group shared by former world number ones Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray saw both Grand Slam champions win through, but in quite different ways.

Andy Murray took Benoit Paire in their group stage match, with hilarious results. Each tie is won by the first player to win three games, as long as they win by two games. If not, they’ll advance to a tie-break at 3-3 in games to see who wins 4-3. Murray, who won his game 3-1, can be heard barking at his on-screen carbon copy about exactly where he thinks he’s heading on the tennis court.