Over 4,000 fans from across the Piedmont and around the country packed the Wake Forest Tennis Center this past weekend to watch the final games of the Winston-Salem Open. In an exciting match between 7th ranked Tomas Berdych and 10th ranked John Isner, Isner won in a third-set tiebreaker, claiming victory at the Open for the second year in a row.
The tournament was a huge success according to director Bill Oakes. In addition to a week of excellent tennis, Oakes highlighted the new amenities of this year’s Open, including free parking and padded seats throughout the stands. He hopes these initiatives will help the Winston-Salem Open continue to grow in the future and entice not only tennis fans, but sports fans in general.
Some young fans are even joining the players on the court. Hannah Gaines was a ballperson during the tournament and she tells how the experience will influence her own game.
“It’s definitely nerve-wracking. You get nervous when they get nervous. I think it’s just seeing what they go through when they’re in those tight situations, and being a player, it’s really inspiring once they can get it together and come back and just dominate.”
Spectators enjoyed the new comforts of the stadium, and local businesses such as Camino Bakery and Village Tavern welcomed guests of the city. While one player (Tsonga) noted the difference between Winston-Salem and New York City, where the U.S. Open is being played, over one hundred professional tennis players from around the world found themselves at home in the Triad.
"Dozens, hundreds, thousands of people that live in this town provided this opportunity [for the players to feel at home] by saying ‘Hi’, giving directions, just talking to these guys” Oakes says. “They travel the world for 30 weeks a year; they miss their families like anyone would, and so being in what one of them called a familiar place, kind of family-style, was a big deal.”
Now many of the players have travelled on to the US Open, and Oakes is already busy beginning to recruit and plan for next year’s Winston-Salem Open.
As an amusing side note, while Jo-Wilfried Tsonga may not have found Winston as “entertaining” as other tournament locales, Tsonga did appreciate some of Winston-Salem’s ‘public safety measures.’ After a recent injury in Toronto involving a fire hydrant and 12 stitches for Tsonga, the player was happy to report that “Winston-Salem is safer than Toronto” and to prove it, included the following picture on his Twitter account.
