Now that it is March and Beijing is still in the chilly
throws of winter I am reminiscing about the start of the October National Week
holiday when I attended the China Tennis Open on a hot fall day. I don’t follow
any professional sports, much less tennis, but am always eager to see the
action live in person if the opportunity presents itself.
Amongst the famed tennis competitions of the world the four
Grand Slams come to mind, but never ever had I heard of the China Open. Yet it
exists! And since its 2004 initiation it has been gaining steam as top ranked
players such as Maria Sharapova, Roger Federer, Jurgen Melzer, the Bryan
brothers, Novak Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka compete in what Beijing claims
is the premier tennis tournament in Asia. And it may well be. Hosted in the
city’s recent state of the art tennis Olympic facilities- the event had a sense
of grandeur, importance and occasion. This was established by the China
National Tennis Center’s amusement park layout. Sponsor tents dotted the
outdoor mall area, offering tennis fans opportunities to buy merchandise, pose
with oversized tennis equipment and refuel on pricey hotdogs.
On Monday October 2nd- day 4 of the tournament- a
friend and I donned our preppy best and hit the courts. From high above in the deluxe
Diamond Court stadium stands we watched the WTA number 1 Victoria Azarneka
destroy French opponent Alize Cornet and later Maria Sharapova unleashed her
notorious shrieks as she struggled against Simona Halep for an eventual
victory. At the smaller Lotus Court we got a closer view of two rising Chinese
male tennis stars, Ze Zhang and Di Wu. The Chinese media was also excited about
women’s powerhouse Na Li who recently put China on the tennis map by making it
into the women’s tennis top 10 rankings. At the Beijing Open she participated
in the semi-finals.
The games themselves were a mixture of intense anticipation,
celebration and scuffling between the crowd and game officials. As each player
let out his or her version of a grunting scream slamming the ball once again
over the net to win a rally, the crowd would struggle to control their
excitement. The officials were forced to announce reprimands when the stadium got too riled up. It was
especially funny when Sharapova was struggling in her match against Halep and
slews of Russian men stood up waving ‘Maria’ banners and shouted encouragement.
Although I am not a dedicated tennis fan, it was
exhilarating to see international tennis champions battle to the end. We were wrapped
up in every point and cheering madly when points went towards our favorite. A nice
respite from crowded and over stimulating Beijing, being in the tennis park was
spacious, clean and glittered with the excitement of the event around us. Arriving
at 1pm and not leaving until 7:30 that night, we had a full day of thrills and now I know a thing or two
about tennis !
