There has been some controversy at this year's Italian Open regarding the quality of courts and Djokovic made an honest admission about it.
A few days ago we saw Sorana Cirstea stopping play during her match against Jelena Ostapenko wanting the supervisor to inspect the court after complaining to the umpire that the court is not playable. The umpire admitted that the court has some quality issues in the back but Cirstea insisted it's all over the court.
She's not been the only that talked about the court quality as the event has some negative reputation surrounding the courts. After his win over Grigor Dimitrov, also the world no. 1 on the ATP Tour, Novak Djokovic opened up about the situation admitting that it's been an issue in the past along with some other problems.
Rome never had a great reputation for the quality of the court, to be honest I know all the guys who are taking care of the courts. I consider them friends. I’ve known them for 15 years, and I get along with them very well. I cannot blame them for this.
Djokovic went on to expand on why things like this happen noting that a clay court should be used and these ones generally are not used until the Rome Masters rolls around. That allows the court to develop holes and all kinds of uneven surfaces.
What is interesting would be to understand how much tennis they’re playing on the court actually before the tournament starts. I think the other year I was asking, and they were not playing much at all. If you don’t use the court, and you have a clay court, these things happen. The court breaks. You have many holes. You have an uneven surface, really bad bounces and a lot of clay.
The court quality has not been an issue for him as he won the event six times in the past including last year when he beat Tsitsipas in the final. It's not something they can fix now as the event goes on so players will just have to deal with it as best they can.
I remember maybe about 10 years, someone told me they brought Roland Garros people in, and that year the court was best. I don’t know why they don’t call them again because they’re the best clay court specialists in the world. Now there’s not much you can do. It’s just kind of covering the holes here and there. I guess that’s a reality that you just have to I guess accept. Hopefully, as the days pass and the tournament progresses, the court will get better.
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