Fans went to the Ariake Colosseum on Sunday to see player spractice on the Tokyo show court at the 2022 Japan Open in Tokyo before main-draw play had started.
Following qualifying, four hours of practice sessions featured players like Casper Ruud, Nick Kyrgios, and Frances Tiafoe hitting and playing in front of an attentive audience. The young Norwegian is in Tokyo for the first time and he practiced with Miomir Kecmanovic, before sharing his thoughts about the unique idea.
“It was great fun,” Ruud said of the unique practice session. “I actually experienced it also at the Laver Cup. They had a similar set-up one day for practice. I was hitting with Novak [Djokovic] after he had hit with Rafa [Nadal], Roger [Federer] and Andy [Murray] together, so the atmosphere was incredible.
“It was fun to see fans back again here today. They were cheering on for the practice, which is not too often that we get to experience that. It was fun — it was sort of like a match, and it helped me focus like it was match. It was great to see a lot of fans come out just for practice, so I imagine that they are ready to watch the main draw starting from tomorrow,” Ruud said.
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