“I hope it never happens again”: Tennis stars rage against tournament in Chile

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“Not all sand is the same.” This wisdom comes from the Swiss tennis legend Heinz Günthardt (65). And anyone who has ever chased the felt balls over the net onto the red ash knows: they are right. A ditch here, a hill there: bumps are ubiquitous on the slowest surfaces.

The tennis professionals had to experience extreme conditions during the ATP 250 tournament in Santiago de Chile. Roberto Carballés Baena (30) angrily stomps past the media after his first round defeat against Corentin Moutet. “I hope this tournament never takes place again,” claytennis.com quoted the Spaniard as saying.

The places are in a catastrophic condition. A video (above) shows a rally during the match between Thiago Seyboth Wild and Roman Burruchaga, with the ball barely bouncing at the end and “sucking up”, as it is called in Swiss tennis jargon. The Brazilian Seyboth Wild can’t believe it, and so do the X users: “Embarrassing”, “pathetic”, “that’s a joke”.

“It felt like I was hurting myself.”

Baena (ATP 64) continues: “What do you want to hear from me, that the tournament sucks? That you can’t play on the field?” It is a shame that the ATP is organizing a tournament in such a place. Especially as the risk of injury increased, he notes: “I constantly had the feeling that I could hurt myself. Eventually I started having back problems.”

Other players, such as Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca (ATP 343), avoided injury after becoming tangled in the sand and falling. Fortunately, the 17-year-old was able to continue playing, but showed his displeasure and kicked the sandhill.

Local hero sweeps through the place

Carballes Baena speaks of a “lottery, because sometimes the ball just doesn’t bounce.” Local hero Cristian Garín, who was eliminated in the first round, also made a clear statement: “I love the tournament, but this is the worst court I have ever played on at ATP level.”

Tournament director Catalina Fillol (43), aunt of Chilean number 1 Nicolas Jarry, understands the criticism, but wants to put it into perspective: “It is a challenging surface. The competitions and rallies last longer, which makes it more difficult.”

Source : Blick