In its first tournament back since 2020, the ASB Classic has made a splash, but not for the right reasons.
Wet weather and delays are causing problems for tournament organisers and players, with the most high profile coming in Emma Raducanu’s criticism of the indoor courts after she rolled her ankle in Thursday’s second round match against Viktoria Kuzmova.
ASB Classic Director Nicolas Lamperin has expressed regret at the 2021 US Open Champion's injury but remains adamant that the courts are fit to play on.
“We obviously are very sorry about Emma’s injury. As every player they work really hard in the off season, that’s not what you expect when you play a tournament in week one," Lamperin said.
“The courts have been checked and we’ve had a number of matches on the indoor courts. We haven’t had an injury apart from yesterday. As far as the tournament is concerned, with the support of the referee and the supervisor, we are able to play and use this court."
Lamperin said he hasn’t spoken with Raducanu since yesterday’s match but shared his concern about her injury.
“I want to make sure she’s okay, this is my number one priority. It’s 10 days ahead of the Australian Open. She’s coming from a season with a lot of injuries so of course this is something which creates frustration. We will have a discussion whether it’s with her or her management for sure and we’ll take it from there.”
The outdoor court had been resurfaced just before the tournament and the indoor court was replaced at the beginning of 2022.
After many delayed matches, Lamperin said that moving the games from outside to indoors isn’t an easy process with the time it takes to sort logistics.
“We always start with a schedule for outdoor courts and then when we get closer to the time, if we realise that the conditions are not going to be suitable we need to move indoors but that always takes time. We need to warn the players, the players need to eat, they need to warm up again. There’s always a little bit of delay when we move from outdoor to indoor.”
Despite a far from ideal return for the popular tournament, Lamperin says overall players have been understanding about the situation.
He says a highlight of the tournament so far has been seeing Coco Gauff and Leylah Fernandez's early success in the tournament.
“Coco and Leylah have been amazing. I hope they do really well in the future because they’re unbelievable ambassadors for the sport. I’m extremely happy about not only their performance but all the support they’re giving to the tournament.”
They’re hoping this is just a temporary set back in their plans to revive the competition.
“Every single tournament in the world has had an issue with the weather, it’s us this year. It’s obviously very challenging and it’s not the experience that we’d like to deliver to the players and to the fans. But we just have to deal with it.”
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