Resurfaced: World Record Broken In Madrid

Editor’s Note: ATPTour.com is resurfacing features to bring fans closer to their favourite players during the current suspension in tournament play. This story was originally published on 1 May 2016.

The Mutua Madrid Open made history on Sunday morning by setting a new Guinness World Record for the most people bouncing tennis balls on racquets at the same time for 10 seconds.

ATP Tour stars Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori, Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga took to the Manolo Santana court at Caja Mágica along with Tournament Director Santana and owner Ion Tiriac to take part in the record attempt. With help from a host of spectators, the Mutua Madrid Open beat the record of 767 people set at the China Open last year.

In total, according to the official count from the assistant judges and the official Guinness World Record judge Anna Orford, the number achieved in Madrid was 1,474, giving the Mutua Madrid Open a new record.

On International Workers’ Day, the Mutua Madrid Open ran the event in celebration of 15 years of employment at the tournament and to recognise the more than 8,000 workers who have in some way contributed to this event.

“It is important that the people know that we create a huge number of jobs every year,” said Santana. “It would have been impossible for the Mutua Madrid Open to reach 15 years without the great workers we have had and that is why this Guinness record was a great tribute to all of them.”