By: Tomas Ressa
The delay of the start of the event because the courts were not yet finished, the denial of a Wild Card for the national tennis legend Andreas Seppi, the complaints of the players about the hotels. In this article we review the mishaps that the ATP 250 of Naples has had, on which the Italian Federation has not yet pronounced itself.
In the context of a change of calendar by the ATP, replacing tournaments in China with events in Europe, there is a championship that has stood out from the others and not exactly for good news. The ATP 250 of Naples, which has been registered for only one year to host an event of this category, began to make the headlines when, a few days before its start, its courts were still not in optimal conditions for the matches to be played.
Nothing could have been further from the truth. The players were furious with the organization. Accredited journalists were uploading material to social networks. Everything seemed unreal. The courts were in «terrible» conditions, with cracks. The balls barely bit.
Only six matches had been played out of eight in the qualy. The situation was untenable. Given the heavy demands, the main draw started on Tuesday, while the qualy had to end on Monday. Some players refused to continue playing and many described the conditions as the worst of the year in an ATP tournament.
To solve on the fly, the organization had to change the surface, so it was necessary to wait until the end of the Florence ATP 250, in which Felix Auger Aliassime (13th) won against JJ Wolf (75th) by double 6-4, to dismantle the court and start moving it to the south of Italy.
Andreas Seppi, a «waste»
Seppi has been one of the great pillars of Italian tennis in recent decades, like Fabio Fognini, Paolo Lorenzi and Simone Bolelli. He finished 15 consecutive seasons in the Top 100 (2005-19), reaching #18 on January 28, 2013 after reaching the 4R Australian Open. He also won 3 singles titles on 3 different surfaces: Eastbourne 2011 on grass, Belgrade 2012 on clay and Moscow 2012 on hard court.
Beyond the results, Seppi planted a school in his country, being the inspiration of Jannik Sinner, today the best Italian player on the circuit. There have even been leaked moments in which Andrea advised Sinner at the beginning of his career.
After announcing his retirement from tennis, Seppi wanted to do it in style and as befits a moment of his greatness: playing an official tournament in front of his people. His vast career and legacy were not enough for the Italian Federation, which on this occasion has forgotten all that Seppi has contributed to the white sport in his country.
I would have liked to have played in the Florence and Naples tournaments to say goodbye to tennis, but I was unfortunate to have to play in a tournament in Florence and Naples to say goodbye to tennis,»
wrote on his Instagram account Andrea Seppi, visibly upset with the treatment received by the Federation.
The criticism from fans was not long in coming, adding a new problem for the Naples tournament and also questioning the positive image brought by the Italian Tennis Federation. But this would not be the end.
A player without accommodation
The chaos and the bizarre would reach its climax when the Colombian tennis player Nicolas Barrientos, exploded through his social networks, after making public the scandalous treatment reserved for him during his arrival at the ATP 250 in Naples.
The South American said that yesterday, when he returned to the hotel around 5 p.m., he found all his and his wife’s belongings in the lobby, «badly packed and several things thrown on the floor.»
Barrientos unloaded on his Twitter account, where he stated: «This filled the cup! How can this happen in an ATP 250? Not even in a Challenger has this ever happened to me», began the thread in which he recounted what happened.
He detailed the bad action of the accommodation: «I check my email and I see an email that came at 4 pm, while I was playing, warning me that I had to change hotels again. I had already been changed once on the second day of my arrival at the tournament.»
«None of this is casual, the bad organization and planning of this tournament has made it impossible to deal with all the problems that arise every day,» Barrientos added.
In spite of all the paperwork and the mess that took place during the week, the ITF has not yet issued any official statement on the matter. The license of the Naples tournament, which has turned out to be a nightmare, runs serious risks of not being renewed. They lost credibility and seriousness, although the real loser was tennis with a forgettable week that should serve as an example not to be repeated.
