IMG recently acquired the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament. The new owner IMG gave most cards to players on its roster, and not to many Spanish players as in the past. Only one player from Spain got a main draw wild card.

Spanish tennis star Fernando Verdasco expressed his frustration with the change. In a lengthy message Twitter post, Verdasco said:

We find it surprising, as well as very frustrating, that the biggest tennis event in Spain shows so little (or no) support towards Spanish tennis players with the invitations granted, especially for the main draws.

Their commercial interests take precedence over Spanish sport and deviate completely from the trajectory followed in previous years.

If we consider any other tournament in the same category, the support given to local players is immensely greater.

IMG takes a similar approach at the Miami Open which it owns. The tournament gives wild cards to players represented by IMG rather than American players. Italian Open which starts next week has given all five of its wild cards to Italian players.

Stefanos Tsitsipas successfully defended his Monte Carlo title beating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Fokina moved into the Top 30 after his impressive run. He beat Novak Djokovic in the second round (ATP).

Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury won the doubles title beating Juan-Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 6-4 3-6 10-7.

Iga Swiatek is on  an incredible streak. She has won 19 matches in a row and is blowing opponents off the court (WTA)

Recently retired Ashleigh Barty has signed up for a series of golf tournaments featuring celebrities (GDN Online)

Dominic Thiem returned to competition after a long break. He lost a 3-setter to John Millman at the Serbia Open. (ESPN)

Roger Federer is working hard on his fitness and is expected to return in the late summer/early fall (TFS)