Good morning all. Here's your daily space for discussing the ongoing tennis in Barcelona - today's Order of Play can be found here. Official TV coverage starts today for most of us - including what's shown via tennistv.com.
I attended the Barcelona tournament last year. Outside of the Slams it was one of my favourite locations. The main court has plenty of seating, but still manages to be intimate, wherever you are located. Although I wasn't seated right next to the main court, which I would have liked, I was fortunate enough to be in a place where I could overlook the secondary court as well. I was high up but had something like a bird's -eye view. Thus I saw plenty of extra drama - in fact I was a lot closer to matches involving the likes of David Nalbandian than I was to the main court. It was hot out there - no shade in the stands -but well worth the time spent.
The nicest part for many local fans was probably having access to the players at close quarters. The main practice courts are directly to one side of the main court, overshadowed by the stands, and accessed from the main clubhouse. Players take a few short steps from the clubhouse to their practice, with security protection, but the number of spectators there isn't large enough to make it difficult. This means that anyone arriving in time for practice sessions has a chance to encounter a star player for long enough to get his autograph, especially once the practice session is over. It probably feels like a personal discovery for fans, who last year also got to see Rafa unselfconsciously raking over the court himself when the time seemed right. I also watched both Nadal and Ferrer signing autographs in a relaxed way in these circumstances, even on the day of last year's final, and was able to get very close to them with professional photo equipment even though I was present as an ordinary spectator - no media pass that week. It felt nicely informal.
As always, enjoy today's tennis.
- Rosangel Valenti
[Note: as of around 12.40 p.m. EST, we have moved to commenting on an Overflow post - see the link in blue below. RV.]