It's been a very odd week at the Nottingham Open, but fortunately, this surprise was far more pleasant than the one from a few days ago.
Tennis is being played on the beautiful grass courts of Nottingham this week with both ATP and WTA players taking part. It's a popular destination in the neatly packed United Kingdom conveniently not too far away from Wimbledon with rather comparable weather. Just the perfect place to prepare for Wimbledon.
While the town doesn't hit the news often, it did at the start of the week due to shocking and tragic events that happened. In the early hours of Tuesday, June 13th three persons were fatally stabbed with three more injured in an attempted 'vehicle ramming attack'. The suspect was quickly arrested and put into custody which prompted the organizers to let the schedule go ahead.
Many were shocked including British tennis legend Andy Murray who was staying in a hotel in the city centre where the attacks happened. Rain made an appearance as well derailing qualifying and enraging talented youngster Shelbayh who had to finish his match on indoor hard courts. Then we have a few peaceful days but Thursday brought another oddity.
In a doubles match, Norwegian player Ulrikke Eikeri did something that's kind of hard to explain because nobody was sure how the thing that happened... happened. She basically caught the ball from live play with her racquet. It was a brilliant 'tennis' move but it lost her team a point. She also had to change racquets for play to continue.
It was a very interesting situation that left all stunned but nobody more than Eikeri herself who looked confused after it happened. She posted a photo of her racquet after the match showing the extent of the 'damage' her swing did. You can see it below.
0 Comments