{Photograph} by Nick Grace
The primary night time of the final Atlanta Open is drenched in rain. Like all July storms, this one comes on robust and sudden however no less than begins earlier than any tennis is performed. I be part of a whole bunch of followers for canopy beneath a concessions tent labeled the “Meals Courtroom.”
Tonight is the Sunday Showdown, between Taylor Townsend and Sloane Stephens. The showdown is an exhibition match performed yearly by ladies’s tennis stars, however its end result bears no weight on them or the Atlanta Open, an occasion on the ATP Tour, the boys’s skilled tennis circuit. Initially, Venus Williams was scheduled to play however withdrew, so Townsend, who grew up in Atlanta and is contemporary off a Wimbledon title in doubles, takes her place.
Huge names convey an enormous crowd. I’m reminded of that as I’m bumped to the sting of the tent and step in a puddle. That is my first time on the event, however I begin to perceive the extensively held perception that the north car parking zone of Atlantic Station in the summertime might not be the perfect venue for a tennis event.
{Photograph} by Mady Mertens
Storylines encompass the Atlanta Open, lots of them about its abrupt however unsurprising finish. It was introduced 9 months prior that, after 14 years, the event would see its last iteration in 2024. The ATP Tour will substitute the Atlanta Open, one of many small 250-level, hard-court stops earlier than the U.S. Open, with “500-level upgrades” in Dallas, Qatar, and Germany.
Earlier than discussions of tour upgrades and event retirements, pissed off narratives already swirled in regards to the Atlanta Open’s timing, on the peak of the town’s humid summer time, and placement—Atlantic Station’s Pinnacle Lot, an occasion area the place momentary grandstands and tents have been arrange every summer time to make primarily a tennis pop-up. Fan turnout has been unreliable, because the event has struggled to draw big stars: the Federers, Djokovics, Nadals. Even when an enormous title exhibits up, corresponding to this 12 months’s primary seed and Atlanta native Ben Shelton, the competitors has dropped off after.
In a tennis-crazed metropolis and the hometown of a number of skilled gamers (with properly over 100,000 gamers in leisure leagues corresponding to ALTA and USTA), the operating bit is that the Atlanta Open isn’t large enough for Atlantans, who would relatively play on a Sunday than sit within the stands and watch a professional match. In a press launch, Peter Lebedevs, the event director, bid farewell to Atlanta however promised that the group continues to be making an attempt to “convey skilled tennis again to the town.”
The storm ends as shortly because it got here however delays the match half-hour. I’ve time to stroll the lot whereas oversize vacuums dry Stadium Courtroom. I go merchandise tents, transportable luxurious restroom trailers, and the presidential suites, a deck at Stadium Courtroom the place VIP followers are lined from the rain and solar. In entrance of the suites, there’s a glass panel that reads “Share with Us Your Favourite Atlanta Open Reminiscence.” Followers have already taken Sharpies to the glass; drops of rain make the inscriptions look as if they’re smearing away.
I count on to see massive names of the event’s 14-year historical past, and do: “I really like John Isner” for the College of Georgia graduate and six-time Atlanta Open champion; “Ben Shelton is my bae”; and “churros” with a coronary heart round it. However a lot of the names on the wall appear to be these of followers, who wrote their very own title or their relations’ names as their favourite reminiscence.
{Photograph} by Nick Grace
It’s 7:30 p.m., and the sundown peaks now from behind the storm clouds. My press go doesn’t get me a seat to the sport, and I see why: The grandstands are full for the Sunday Showdown, although I’m advised by a event volunteer that that is the one match of the event bought out to this point. They recommend I be part of the ball boys and ball women for the perfect view. There’s possibly a dozen of us corralled behind a fence tucked in a nook of the court docket, however we are able to nonetheless see the motion properly.
Exhibitions in tennis are like puppets in a theater. The play is orchestrated with toned-down serves, longer rallies, and gags for the gang. Within the first set, Townsend asks a fan the place to position her serve; one other serve she hits underhand. The Sunday Showdown is a well-deserved homecoming after Wimbledon, and Townsend jokes throughout the court docket with Stephens all through the match.
Stephens is a U.S. Open winner and a former world quantity three, who appears to benefit from the lack of stress Townsend invitations. Stephens provides a ball woman one among her further rackets to hitch her for a degree, two versus one. “I can’t imagine it,” says a ball boy standing subsequent to me. I can’t inform if he’s saying it with shock or envy. I admit, for a second, that I want I have been on the market too. Townsend wins the Sunday Showdown in two units and dances to “No Palms” on the internet to have fun the win.
Despite the fact that the match is over, the present goes on, and spectators stick round and clamor for extra. Townsend and Stephens circle the court docket high-fiving and speaking to followers who lean over the railings to get nearer to the celebrities. “I believe Atlanta deserves a improbable occasion, possibly the WTA,” says Townsend. “You’ll be able to see individuals need it. You simply gotta ask the individuals with the checkbooks and the pens.”
{Photograph} by Nick Grace
A number of days later, I return to Atlantic Station to look at Shelton play his first-round matchup towards Juncheng “J.C.” Shang, ranked 89th on the earth. Once more, I be part of the ball boys and ball women for my courtside view, although the stands aren’t fairly as full as they have been for the Sunday Showdown. It’s a damp and scorching night time, and Shelton’s shirt is soaked, as if he already performed one other match to heat up.
He performs with outward depth as if he’s making an attempt to show a degree, a lot how I think about Atlanta as a metropolis. He roars after each successful forehand and shakes his head in exasperation when Shang forces him into an off-balanced return. After an essential ace to stop a break, Shelton pumps his fist and bears his tooth. The group echoes his actions, yelling when he does and sulking simply the identical.
On the finish of the primary set, a number of formidable pictures by Shelton flip into errors, and Shang wins 7–6 to little applause. Within the second set, the errors from Shelton are actually a downpour, and immediately the hometown hero, and probably the greatest gamers on the earth, is down and almost out. This upset isn’t presupposed to occur on the final Atlanta Open, and the gang, to my shock, decides the identical. Some teenage followers to my left now raucously cheer on Shang’s each transfer. To his credit score, he’s a artful and picked up participant, who waits for Shelton to make a mistake; Shang’s a participant individuals love to like. “I need J.C. to win,” says a ball boy subsequent to me.
To finish the match, Shang returns a serve straight at Shelton, who’s on the internet. However Shelton’s forehand is simply too robust and out of play, so he loses the second set 4–6. The applause for Shang is louder now. The gamers shake arms on the internet, and Shelton grabs his bag. Head down, he walks off Stadium Courtroom for the final time.
From the place I’m standing, I can see his exit. Shelton passes via a curtain on the finish of the court docket, underneath the makeshift grandstands, and he’s within the car parking zone, the place a Cadillac is ready to take him to the lodge.
Sure, the Atlanta Open was not the perfect venue for tennis, although I do additionally see its momentary construction, and existence, as an indication: Dedication is essential, for each the individuals with the checkbooks and pens, and the followers.
This text seems in our April 2025 challenge.
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