There was a bizarre start to Novak Djokovic’s opening match at the Madrid Open when a walking robot took to the main stadium court while the players waited in the wings. In previous years, the tournament has used a robo-dog to bring the balls to the court. But they took things up a notch for 2025.

Ballkids formed a walkway at the entrance to the Manolo Santana Stadium as the two-legged robot stepped onto the court and delivered some balls for the match before pacing around and waving to the fans. When it left, Djokovic and his opponent, Matteo Arnaldi, finally came out for their contest.

Djokovic is playing the Madrid Open for just the second time since 2019. The Serb has severely limited his schedule in recent seasons, and his last appearance at the tournament was a semi-final outing in 2022.

But he was ready to begin his campaign against young Italian Arnaldi in the third day session match on Manolo Santana on Saturday, though both players had to wait for a strange pre-match ceremony.

In 2022, the Madrid Open introduced a ‘smart robot dog’ to the tournament grounds, created in partnership with Prosegur, a security company headquartered in the Spanish city.

Named Yellow, the dog was programmed to patrol the grounds both independently and under the supervision of the Prosegur team and could alert them to any risks on-site.

The robo-dog was programmed to climb stairs and adapt to any surface. Last year, organisers proudly showed Yellow off to the fans as the bot took to the court to deliver balls ahead of a match.

The tournament decided to stage a similar spectacle ahead of Djokovic’s match on Saturday, though they have now upgraded Yellow the robo-dog into a fully-fledged robot.

Cameras cut to the Manolo Santana Stadium, where the humanoid walked through a line of ballkids to reach the emcee, passing over a tennis ball.

Sky Sports commentators were left baffled by the new bot. “It’s robodog, back again! He’s on two legs, what’s going on here?” Colin Fleming exclaimed.

Nick Lester replied: “Oh my goodness. Yes, because it was the dog version last year, wasn’t it?”

Recalling last year’s robot appearance, Fleming continued: “On all fours last year delivering the can of balls to the matches. This is a new take.”

The robot started pacing around and waving to the fans before finally making its way off the court.

“Slightly unsettling as well. I’m sure I’ve seen a few movies where things shaped like that take over the world. Got a bit of personality as well! Dances like you, Nick,” Fleming joked.

The cameras cut back to the hallways inside the Caja Magica, where Djokovic and his coach, Andy Murray, exchanged their last words before the match.

As Djokovic and Arnaldi waited in the tunnel, Lester explained: “We are though, I can tell you, waiting for the man at times who has been pretty robotic on the tennis court. Novak Djokovic. Looked like a machine at times. He’ll be out here shortly.”

After the brief robot presentation, the players stepped out, also walking through the line of ball boys and girls. Djokovic may have been thrown off by the machine - he was broken in his opening service game. But he quickly recovered and broke straight back.