Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Thursday 2 March 2017
Feet of Clay: Tennis in Latin America may flee the surface

STEPHEN WADE Thiem, who has won six
AP Sports Writer of his eight singles titles
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The on clay, sees the change
days are numbered for coming.
clay-court tennis in Latin “The whole tour goes more
America. and more to hardcourt,”
The clay-court circuit lost he said.
a major event several “Except for Roland Gar-
years ago when the Mexi- ros and Wimbledon, all
can Open in Acapulco the most important tourna-
switched to hardcourts. ments are on hardcourts. If
The tournament is on this it changes to hardcourts,
week. we’ll have to get used to
The Rio Open, which end- it.”
ed on Sunday, is likely to There are still a run of clay-
be next. And it could signal court events in Europe
the end of several smaller leading up to the French
clay-court tournaments in Open, including Mas-
Quito, Buenos Aires and ters 1,000 tournaments in
Sao Paulo. Monte-Carlo, Madrid and
The so-called “Latin Ameri- Rome.
can clay-court swing” After the French, there’s
comes in February and a condensed grass court
early March — just after In this Feb. 23, 2017 photo, tennis players practice at the Rio Open tennis tournament in Rio de stretch of tournaments
the Australian Open on Janeiro, Brazil. The days of clay-court tennis in Latin America are numbered. ahead of Wimbledon be-
hardcourts, and just before Associated Press fore the tour predominant-
Acapulco and two well- ly reverts to hardcourts.
established hard-court By comparison, Acapulco jury. Maybe more.” The Rio Open has been
events in Indian Wells, Cali- has four players in the top Nadal chose to play in Carvalho said the “ATP played for four years at a
fornia, and Miami. 10 this week — and seven Mexico this season instead doesn’t have to be frozen” temporary clay-court ven-
“We’re in the middle of in the top 20 — including of Rio, where has been the and needs to change to ue set up at Rio’s Jockey
nowhere,” Rio Open tour- Novak Djokovic and Ra- marquee draw the last sev- adapt to younger players. Club, the city’s horse rac-
nament director Luiz Car- fael Nadal, the king of clay eral years. “We trust a hard-court ing track. It is located in the
valho told The Associated who has won a record nine “Imagine what we could event would fit better be- city’s most upscale area,
Press. French Open titles on the get in Rio if we were play- cause of the current situa- and a move to suburban
The driving force for surface at Roland Garros. It ing on hard,” Carvalho tion of the tour,” Carvalho Barra would dislodge the
change is the new tennis also had No.4 Milos Raonic, said. “I think we could get a said. “The next generation event from the heart of the
arena built in Rio for last who pulled out with an in- field as good as Acapulco. is hard-court focused.” city.q
year’s Olympic Games.
The $50 million venue in
suburban Barra da Tijuca is
vacant, being run by Bra-
zil’s federal government,
and needs events. And
it’s built for hardcourts, not
clay.
Carvalho speaks cautious-
ly, but acknowledges he’s
in talks with ATP President
Chris Kermode and the
other South American tour-
nament directors about
making the move.
“The concept of moving to
hard (courts) we all agree,”
said Carvalho, speaking for
the other South American
tournaments. Carvalho’s
long-term goal is to up-
grade Rio to what the ATP
calls a 1,000-level event
— like Indian Wells, Miami,
and a handful of others
across North America, Eu-
rope and Asia.
The Latin American clay-
court circuit struggles to
draw top players. This year,
Rio attracted No. 5 Kei Ni-
shikori and No. 9 Dominic In this Aug. 14, 2016 file photo, Andy Murray, of England, and Juan Martin del Potro, of Argentina, compete at dusk in their gold
Thiem, who eventually won medal match at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
the event. Associated Press