By Ryan Balon
Because of the pandemic, South Korea and New Zealand agreed to play their Davis Cup World Group 1 tie at a neutral site in Newport, Rhode Island.
Soonwoo Kwon (South Korea) defeated Finn Ryenolds (NZ) 76 63.
Ji Sung Nam (NK) Defeated Ruben Statham (NZ) 62 62.
Very few people here – 200 tops if that.
$30 a ticket which entitles you to visit the museum.
No concessions.
Restroom access in the museum.
New Zealand player smoked in the first match 62 62 by player from Korea, just too solid.
Players that are not playing are sitting on a bench behind the player and coach involved in the match.
Automatic line calls, no line judges.
Besides that, pretty uneventful but this is also after I just returned from the US Open and Cincinnati.
There’s one usher for the whole court.
First come, first serve for seating.
Media? I saw a few photographers and one video guy.
I wouldn’t say it was amazing but still high quality and cool to be there with teammates cheering their player on. Glad I went.
(Photo and article by Ryan Balon, a Rhode Island-based correspondent.)
Davis Cup · Newport Hall of Fame · Soonwoo Kwon
catherine · September 20, 2021 at 5:31 am
Slightly off topic, but maybe not too far….after over 30 years of great success and popularity the WTA have seen fit to cancel the Luxembourg tournament and replace with an exhibition. Is the WTA feeling the pinch ?
Cf Davis Cup – I can see this struggling now – just not enough room in the schedule. Or no will to preserve it.
catherine · September 20, 2021 at 7:55 am
Re the Luxembourg cancellation, the story becomes curiouser and curiouser. For anyone interested this link from Ubitennis is informative:
https://www.ubitennis.net/2021/09/wta-luxembourg-open-axed-over-disagreements-between-tour-and-organisers/
WTA doesn’t come out looking good.
Scoop Malinowski · September 20, 2021 at 7:56 am
Catherine, I watched some of that final in Luxembourg and it was two players playing the same style, every point looked the same. Tauson vs Ostapenko. But you know what Billie Jean King keeps hollering, Equal prize money.
catherine · September 20, 2021 at 11:07 am
Scoop – I didn’t think Tauson looked anything special and Ostapenko plays a pretty routine game. However, I’m not sure that’s the reason the tournament’s been cancelled.
Sounds as if a few people were unhappy with other aspects – but I doubt we’ll ever hear the true story. Usual WTA mess IMO. And financial problems. Lost a lot of $$$$ in China I believe. Though maybe Emma can get some of that back 🙂
Scoop Malinowski · September 20, 2021 at 1:04 pm
Catherine, the wta is struggling, serena and maria have faded away. there is no big star in the wta now. Osaka blew it with her political activism which disgusted a lot of people. Bibi showed signs of being a superstar but she dropped back with the pack. As did Kenin. Gauff hasn’t blossomed yet as was hoped by the powers that. Svitolina, Kvitova, Muguruza, Halep, Kerber, Pliskova, Anisimova, Sloane, Krejcikova, Barty, Swiatek, are all fine players but they can’t carry tournaments on their own. Barty is a wonderful player but she does not stir excitement or move tickets anywhere but Australia unfortunately Maybe Emma Raducanu can become the superstar the wta urgently needs. It was obviously supposed to be Gauff but her technical is not solid enough to get the job done on the court.
Scoop Malinowski · September 20, 2021 at 4:29 pm
Catherine, Tauson looks like a bunch of other solid WTA pros, like another Kontaveit, Kiki Bertens, Lisicki, solid strong baseliner, not the most fleet of foot. Didn’t see the x factor but who knows. She’s still new to it all and just breaking into the pros. All these young players and veterans too have to be greatly inspired by what Leylah and Emma just did. Anybody can beat anybody now. These two teens proved it emphatically.