Great pics!
did you have a great time in the venue?
and in Madrid?
what was good and bad?
I went to the venue in 2009 and the park outside the venue, close to the river was still a desert/work in progress. (your 6th pic). Then about the retractable roof on 3 stadiums, never rains there, and the capacity of Santana and ASV have been criticised.
What was your impression about the fans? lot of foreigners? the event gets a bad reputation about the fans not knowing too much about tennis and behaving as in a soccer match, or davis cup tie, cheeering unforced errors.
favorite place in Madrid?
hope one day you will visit the rctb event in barcelona, the crowd is wimbledonesque but you can talk to the players/coaches/umpires and it's very easy to interact with them.
again thanks for the pics!
wishing you had a wonderful experience in the first event played on blue clay and in your first visit to Spain. 
The venue is world class.
"I'm really not sure there's anything else to complain about this event because the Mutua Madrid Open grounds are nothing less than amazing. Having once been an indoor event, the facility features 3 stadiums with retractable roofs. And beyond that, they got virtually everything right--a promenade bridge for the outer courts from which you can watch two matches simultaneously...Additionally, all courts, including the outer courts, have
individual seats, most of which slide so that if a fat person sits next to you you can slide your seat so that their fat isn't sitting on top of you. Really well conceived."
All stadiums are small and fan friendly. Courts don't have to be any larger, especially here, because they weren't being filled. At other venues, I guess you want larger stadiums to accomodate the crowds, but you sacrifice seating position. Honestly, I'll take 10,000 seats over 15,000 every time, and 3,000 over 8,000. Some may want to feel like they're at a football game, I like intimacy. ASV, Court #3, and all outer courts were GA, so I sat in the front row for every match save for the few I saw on Santana.
I was disappointed that they don't give updates on other courts like they do at the USO. Always want to know what's going on on other courts and since my phone didn't work in Spain, I couldn't get that info. On the other hand, if you've got a smartphone, it's not an issue.
I was there Mon-Thur and the fans were tame and polite. Only several cheers for "Nico" and a few for "David." At the Ivanovic-Petrova match, I was the only one saying, "Come on, Nadia!" a few "Ana". Otherwise, nothing but polite applause. Monfils did get a standing ovation for that between the legs volley. Few foreigners. I did hear two sets of Americans and the Argentines, as always, travel well. Some Columbians, too. Otherwise, it was didn't compare to majors in terms of being an international event. I've never been to Cincinnati, but I imagine the same is true of that event, too.
http://www.tennis4you.com/forum/index.php?topic=16696.0Madrid is my kind of city. Huge, crowded, and very European. Beautiful architecture. I love European architecture. At times it made me feel like I was in Paris or Torino. Oddly, I stayed near Puerta del Sol right next to the strip where all the gauntlet of prostitutes hang. It sounds like a seedy area, but the strip was full of restaurants, cafes, and prostitutes. lol
Marabella won a big game and the drunk footballers were
all night.
My favorite place was Plaza Santa Ana. Quaint, intimate, and lots of neat cafes and pubs.
Had a great time!
