Special guests and heavy rain in Stromovka area

11th August 2020

The main competition of the Prague Open 2020 started on Monday at 12.30 pm local time. Some of the players and organisators had to undertake COVID tests again as no one should have a test older than five days. After the tests, nothing was stopping to start the last round of qualifying and the subsequent first matches of the main draw of women's singles and doubles which were unfortunately stopped after several minutes by rain for the rest of the day.

Early in the morning, a special guest, the two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitová, arrived at the TK Sparta Prague complex. However, even though she is a member of the club, she was not allowed to enter the areas reserved only for tested participants in the tournament. Kvitova then answered numerous both professional and personal questions during our live stream on Instagram of the tournament. Did you know she likes detective stories, what ice cream does she prefer, or who does she thinks will win Prague Open 2020? All the answers could be found from the chat recording on the tournament's social media. Moreover, if you are curious about why Petra climbed the ladder to the roof of the clubhouse you will find out soon.

Another nice visit arrived in the afternoon when Lucie Safarova and her daughter Leontynka came to greet her friends and former teammates. However, the former Czech tennis player did not appear here by coincidence, because she is a coach of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova from Russia.

The tournament officially started with the opening ceremony which was different due to the given circumstances. Because the tournament takes place without spectators the opening ceremony it was adapted only for the needs of television. Prague Open 2020 is broadcasted to a total of 149 countries all around the world.

There are three hitting partners in the background of the TK Sparta Prague complex, who help tennis players to warm up. Antonin Bolardt had the opportunity to hit with Canadian player Genie Bouchard during the first day – and she has been requesting only him since then. He also warmed up with her today and he obviously did a great job as she swept Veronika Kudermetova from Russia off the court in an hour and a quarter with a score of 6:0 6:3.

Unfortunately, after three days of a heatwave, heavy rain and storm surprised the organizers today. Due to the weather conditions, the matches had to be suspended and some of them did not even start. "I have never seen such a rainstorm," one of the WTA representatives commented on the water jets. "Yeah, it's raining hard. But I'm mainly afraid of lightning, "added her colleague. Nevertheless, they both took pictures and filmed wet courts with a smile on their faces. Genie Bouchard was also in a good mood as she was watching the rain from the restaurant on the terrace. She had a chance to finish her match till the end, so she could enjoy lunch in peace, even furtively with smile took a piece of meal from a plate of her coach who stepped away for a while.

photo: TK SPARTA PRAHA/Pavel Lebeda (sport-pics.cz)

Author: eSports