Beach game hopes to outshine rainy Wimbledon

Milan, July 17: The growing sport of beach tennis is ready to further establish itself by taking advantage of the backlash against the downpours and decorum of Wimbledon.

A mixture of tennis and beach volleyball, the sport is popular in Italy where youngsters head to the sands for some energetic fun in the sun.

Beach tennis is now being marketed inland, with an exhibition match played on a manmade court in sweltering Milan earlier this month.

The contrast with Wimbledon could hardly be starker.

Rain has always been a problem but it fell for much of this year's championships with exhausted players having to dash on and off the grass courts to complete their backlog of matches while spectators were forced to huddle under umbrellas.

Losing finalist Rafael Nadal was one of several players who felt organisers should have allowed play on the middle Sunday, a traditional rest day at the conservative All England club.

The planned roof on Centre Court will keep out future showers and the use of Hawkeye was mostly welcomed but these moves will not alter the view of some commentators that the strawberries-and-cream brigade are still stuck in the past.

DEDICATED ARM

Beach tennis is hoping to recruit a new sort of fan.''Wimbledon is always Wimbledon,'' Italian beach tennis champion Paolo Tazzari told Reuters at the Milan event.

''But I am fine with what I am doing. I've found something I enjoy on the beach, under the sun and by the sea.'' In tennis, Italy's women are the Fed Cup champions and have reached this year's final after beating France in the semi-finals at the weekend. However, the country has no singles players in the men and women's top 20s.

By contrast, beach tennis is increasingly popular in Italy with the hotbed of the game in the state of Emilia Romagna where there are more than 1,600 courts.

The Italian Tennis Federation has an arm dedicated to beach tennis and the national championships take place in Ferrara from Thursday to Sunday.

The federation, which runs its own Masters Tour around the country, has also helped organise a European championship but Tazzari said there were some problems.

''They do play in other countries but the rules are a little different and we need to unify the rules to expand. It is not a professional sport which means we have to play exhibition matches,'' said the 27-year-old, who started playing aged 12.

Close cousin beach volleyball, an Olympic sport, has proved a hit with television executives because of the tight clothing and tanned appearances of the players.

KEY DIFFERENCE

Backed by the Fundacion Pupi children's charity headed by Inter Milan footballer Javier Zanetti, Tazzari hopes for similar exposure for beach tennis but has one reservation.

''It is difficult for the television cameras because of the speed,'' he said.

In the Italian version, mixed or same-sex doubles teams face each other across a 1.70 metre net on a court notably smaller than a tennis court and marked out with tape.

The rackets are graphite paddle bats, halfway between a table tennis bat and a tennis racket, while the ball looks like a normal tennis ball but is slightly softer and lighter.

The points system is more similar to tennis than beach volleyball but there is only one serve and there are no lets for netcords.

A key difference with tennis is that the ball cannot bounce.

However, smashing the ball to the floor before your opponent can reach it is surprisingly difficult given the height of the net and the players therefore produce some long rallies with acrobatic dives.

Wimbledon's grass favours big servers and has been labelled too fast, Roland Garros's clay has been criticised for being too slow while the artificial surface at next January's Australian Open will be different after complaints this year.

The volley rule in beach tennis means there is no debate about the speed of the ball while the sun beats down on the chilled-out arena.

Anyone for a fifth grand slam on sand?

Reuters





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