The Beijing Tennis Open~ Reminiscing about Warmer Days

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 2^nd- 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 !