He Miami Open was called for quite some time ‘the quinto Grand Slam‘. It was, in fact, the first tournament with this ‘adjective’, because the men’s and women’s draws were played at the same time and the draws were of 128 players (although the seeds were exempt in the first round).
However, all that glittered was not gold. Its original location, in Key Biscayne (1987, although the tournament has been held since 1985), it was exotic but not too adequate. It was played on courts municipalwhich meant that the tournament setup was, every year, provisionaland was located near one of the areas swampynow more or less preserved, typical of Florida. Ever one of your reptiles population He infiltrated the stadium, although without major consequences.
Yes he had them in the early 90s A hurricane will destroy the tournament facilities. Tennis players, the public and the press had to be evacuated and the damage was significant. After that, the central court was built, the Crandon Stadiumbut the rest of the tournament always had a feeling of provisionality e discomfort for tennis players. When in 2018 The tournament changed venues, the oldest ones, those from the 80s and 90s, expressed their weighbut they did not fail to point out that really It was a small and uncomfortable tournamentalmost a camp…
Appearance of the Miami Open outdoor courts
The change to Hard Rock Stadium de Miami It was justified precisely by the need to provide the event with a better venue, more in line with its category. The tournament moved its center court to the stadium of the Miami Dolphins -the NFL competition ends in February- and in the rest of the facilities he built the adjacent tracks. With which the tournament It is still held in a temporary facility.
However, it seems that external magnificence is still not a reflection of organizational quality. Today, during the meeting between Viktoria Azarenka and Yulia Putintsevathe power supply failed and the tournament had to be suspended for 45 minutes for a general blackout: all electrical systems go by the same route and at the same time the scoreboards, the electronic refereeing, the lighting failed…
In addition, the ambient microphone on the track had picked up a conversation from Casper in the previous days. Ruud with the referee of one of his clashes. In it he talked about the wardrobe deficiencies what happened to him, “no towels, no water. Just a plastic chair“, and he complained although he recognized that the referee was not to blame: “We come to give show a tens of thousands of people and They treat us like that. And when the players complain, nothing happens”…
James Blake, the tournament director, took some of the blame and Ruud also apologized somewhat. But the underlying complaint (“the tournament is too AFFORDABLE to offer something bueno to the players”) is recurrent in many tournaments.
2024-03-26 20:07:56
#hurricanes #general #blackout
