This week’s Napoli Cup has perhaps been one of the most challenging tournaments for the ATP in recent history.
The tournament has been hindered by a series of issues which started when the schedule of its main draw was delayed due to the conditions of the court. Qualifying matches had to be moved to another venue following players’ complaints about the situation which organizers say was caused by heavy rain. Photos on social media showed visible cracks in the court.
“They encountered a problem with the surface which did not hold. Originally, these were clay courts. They put a wooden structure on the ground then a lino and they poured a resin on it which did not hold,” tennis coach Laurent Raymond told L’Equipe.
It is unclear as to how it has gone so wrong considering the timeline. On September 29th organizer Cosimo Napolitano acknowledged that poor weather was playing a factor in the region but told local media that he was confident that the event would be ready on time.
There have also been accusations of poor management in Naples. On social media Colombian doubles player Nicolás Barrientos slammed the tournament after returning to his hotel to find his belongings had been dumped in the hotel lobby. Barrientos was playing a doubles match when he received an email informing him he had to change hotels for a second time this week.
“The poor organization and planning of this tournament have made it impossible to deal with every problem that emerges each day.” He wrote on Twitter.
Thursday at the tournament saw a continuation of what has been a troubled week in the Italian city with two more players voicing their concerns, including former top 10 player Fabio Fognini. In his second match of the day, Fognini was trailing top seed Pablo Carreno Busta 0-3 before their match was suspended. This decision was made three games after he was denied a request for the supervisor to check the conditions of the court.
“Tonight I took the field for the second match of the day and at the end of the warm-up I asked the supervisor to intervene because I wanted him to check the conditions of the field. It was very slippery and nevertheless I was denied this possibility,” Fognini said on his Instagram account.
“The supervisor showed up after two games and then stopped the game after the third game. Why this delay? This is a serious lack of ATP Tour in a week that is already very complex.”
Corentin Moutet, who is coached by Raymond, also experienced similar problems. So much so that he decided to retire from his match against Miomir Kecmanović because he didn’t want to risk injuring himself.
“I wish I could continue but with my adductor, the court was too dangerous to continue playing,” he wrote on his Instagram story.
“Sorry to the crowd. I tried my best but I didn’t want to risk continuing to play on slippery courts.” He added.
Naples was given a one-year license to hold an ATP 250 event as a result of tennis events being cancelled in China this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
