Court Coverage: Court Coverage: Barcelona Open

The Barcelona Open is an ATP 500 clay court tournament - men only. Located near the University of Barcelona and FC Barcelona's Campnou, it is a 25 minute train ride from the city center. The tournament takes place at the Reial Club de Tennis, a beautiful club with nice views all around.

I attended on Friday and Sunday for the Quarterfinals and Finals. On these days, I was able to see Rafael Nadal, Ernests Gulbis, Kei Nishikori, Nicolas Almagro. Gabashvlili, Santiago Giraldo, Philip Kohlschreiber, and Marin Cilic. Daniel Nestor/Zimonjic, Dodig/Melo, Bopanna/Quereshi were also on the schedule for doubles.

From a fan perspective, here is my opinion of the tournament:

The location is great! Barcelona has endless things to do for all types of people with all types of interests. The beach, mountains, shopping, hiking, sailing, history, architecture, museums, yummy food, sporting events, and wineries are all possible here. The weather was really nice when I was there too. Sunny most days with temperatures in the 60's, it was very comfortable during the day to sit and watch matches or go sightseeing. There was only a small chill at night, so not unbearable for a Florida girl :)

The level of play and level of players is really good, too. Clay courts always seem to bring out the best in some players and you are able to see the talent of players who you may not see much of during the rest of the year. The crowd is enthusiastic, especially for the Spanish players and the fans seemed to really appreciate the sport of tennis. It was definitely a fun atmosphere during the matches, no matter who was playing. I really enjoyed it and the stadiums were all intimate, without a bad seat in them.

The grounds here are small but beautiful. The Reial Club De Tennis is located in a residential neighborhood and I could tell that during the rest of the year, it's courts, pool, and restaurants are a beautiful place to hang out and play some tennis or relax.

A couple of complaints I have are definitely related to the fact that this tournament is played at a small club and space is limited, but they are worth mentioning in order to compare it to the other tournaments I have been to.

First, the bathrooms are all port-a-potties, not permanent bathrooms or high quality temporary ones that other tournaments have. I find this a little annoying for a high profile event.

Second, the food and drink choice is very limited, and the areas are very small and crowded, which can get confusing and frustrating for some. Hot dogs, sandwiches, crepes, beer, and wine were most of what was available.

Also, the walkways around the stadiums are very small, narrow, and always crowded, making it hard to move through the area. There are also no places to sit and relax; I saw only a few tables around where people could sit and relax outside of the stadiums. The shopping is also extremely limited. Of about 20 booths, only 2 were shops and were very small; Babolat, Dunlop, and a few local items were all that was available. The rest were all promotional.

For an ATP 500 level tournament, I think they can offer more to the fans. Compared to Brisbane, which is a 250 and has a lot of high profile male and female players, or Delray Beach, also a 250, this tournament is lacking in fan experience and amenities.

I attended on shorter days, towards the end of the tournament, which made it all OK. But I think it may have been more difficult on the longer days, with more matches going on.

The tennis was awesome and overall it was a really good experience. My advice go to the tournament for 1 or 2 days and explore the city and surrounding area for 3 or 4.

Here are the pictures from the tournament finals:

Champion - Kei Noshikori of Japan:

Finalists Santiago Giraldo and Kei Nishikori.

Nishikori's Coach Michael Chang - former player for the US.

Kei Nishikori.

Santiago Giraldo.

Kei Nishikori

This apartment building was next to the tournament and the two little girls kept screaming to the players in the middle of points. Didn't last too long, the chair umpire told them to go back in their house. Hilarious!