"I challenge any tournament in the world, to set up the fields from scratch in record time" - Napoli Cup organizer on substandard courts controversy
Tournament organizers over at the Tennis Napoli Cup are eager to move past the controversy surrounding the substandard courts at the ATP 250 tournament — which generated a lot of interest on social media.
Speaking of the same in an interview with the Dire news agency, tournament organizer Cosimo Napolitano refused to take any blame. Highlighting the lightning-quick response from the tournament in fixing the courts within hours of the issue being flagged, he said they had proven "enormously reliable."
“I have nothing to reproach myself with, nothing," Napolitano said. "And to those who make controversy, I reply that we are proving enormously reliable. I challenge anyone, any tournament in the world, to find, get there and set up the fields from scratch in record time as we did with the help of Fit."
Shifting the focus to the company responsible for maintaining the courts — Mapei, Napolitano said they are a "world leader" in the business, but a discussion needs to be had in the wake of this year's debacle.
Napolitano went on to say that he did not pay too much attention to the "controversy" generated on social media, saying it was easy for people who did not have ground-level information on such issues to get confused. He was also quick to add that he never ran away from the problem and was available to answer all the questions that players and mediapersons had with regards to the issue.
“Mapei is a world leader company," Napolitano said. "When it is all over, we will meet and talk about it. I would like to resolve it without dispute, but it is clear that I will ask for satisfaction. Because what happened in the first two days caused everything else to cascade."
"But again: we worked like crazy to immediately find solutions that allowed us to hold the tournament here in Naples," he continued." The ATP could have taken the tournament elsewhere. Anyone who makes a controversy on social media is an imbecile. It's easy to get confused, without knowing the work behind it. I'm here, I put my face to it and answer everyone."
Matteo Berrettini and Lorenzo Musetti to contest Napoli Cup final
In a major delight for the home fans, two of Italy's best tennis players — Matteo Berrettini and Lorenzo Musetti, have struck top form in Naples and will be contesting the summit clash at the Tennis Napoli Cup.
While Berrettini has taken out the likes of Roberto Carballes Baena and Taro Daniel en route to the final, countryman Musetti has fought past Miomir Kecmanovic and Daniel Galan in his last two matches.
The men's singles final is scheduled to be played on Sunday at 3 pm local time.