COVID-19 has created massive problems throughout the world, including the cancellation of tennis through July 13th (currently). The Mutua Madrid Open decided that, instead of cancelling the tournament altogether, they would hold a virtual tournament instead of the regular in-person clay court event.
While not ideal by any means, with the surge in popularity of esports, this seemed like a good way for tennis to enter into the gaming sphere. The tournament decided that Tennis World Tour would be the video game of choice and playstation to be the game console used.
With 150,000 euros at stake (with at least some of that total expected to go to a donation) and 50,000 additional euros set aside exclusively for donations, the stakes were high for the 32 players participating.
The tournament was still gender-separated with 16 ATP players and 16 WTA players parsed into groups of 4 for dueling round robin tournaments. In the round robin stage, the players played to 3, with at tiebreak at 3-3. There was also a charity tournament occurring simultaneously.
For the main tournaments, after the round robin, there would be a traditional quarterfinal, knock out-style setup. In the knock out stages of the tournament, a full set of virtual tennis was played to determine a winner. Kiki Bertens and Andy Murray ended up winning the WTA and ATP virtual titles, respectively.
So, how successful was the tournament? Could we see a wave of similar tournaments, even when the regular tours return? Let's dive in.
Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro Review
The tournament started off on the wrong foot with the withdrawal of Gael Monfils (whose spot was taken by Benoit Paire) due to an issue with the rights to stream his virtual matches.
Tennis journalist Matthew Willis made the point that the virtual tournament was exclusive to Facebook and Monfils was affiliated with Twitch, another streaming platform. The streaming on Facebook part is weird to Willis, who has showcased how much more popular Twitch is for streaming.
There were more withdrawals during the tournament too. The game itself was a laggy disaster (more on that later), and during the round robin stage of the men's tournament, Dominic Thiem and Karen Khachanov withdrew because of technical issues, giving opponents 3-0 wins.
Even in the charity tournament taking place alongside the main tournament, technical issues for Rafael Nadal and Donna Vekic forced the cancellation of that match.
If Tennis World Tour is the best video game that tennis has, then the future of video game play in the sport is in huge trouble. Willis showcased the glitchy, terrible graphics that almost certainly turned viewers off from the game.
Then, in the men's semifinals, when Andy Murray took on Diego Schwartzman, it was as tennis journalist Stuart Fraser reported Murray saying, "...a disaster." Technical difficulties marred the match and the players ultimately decided that Murray should advance to the final.
It was almost comical how poorly the tournament was working out. In the semifinals of a virtual tournament, the players can barely even play due to technical issues. If I'm being frank, it was a total embarrassment for the tournament and reflected poorly on the sport's ability to put together a solid virtual tournament.
Personally, when I was watching the quarterfinal matchup between Bianca Andreescu and Sorana Cirstea, a match which Cirstea eventually won in a tiebreak, there was at least one occasion that I can remember where a player served a let, but was inexplicably given the point. With as seriously as the virtual tournament was taking itself, even such a seemingly minor problem during play de-legitimizes the competition.
That's not to say that the organizers weren't trying their hardest. It was clear that Madrid tournament director Feliciano Lopez and the rest of the team at Madrid were trying their best to put on the best event possible.
The problem for the Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro was that the the game itself felt deficient in someway. The graphics felt like they were from 10 or 15 years ago, as opposed to the modern day video games we are used to.
Tennis as sport might also just not be very well-suited to video games in general, at least serious video games trying to realistically replicate the action on the court. Watching the Virtual Pro, it felt like so much was missing. The cool angles and spins that players put on the ball, the trick shots, even the interaction between players and their boxes. All gone.
Instead, we got a glitchy, laggy, bland version of tennis that was a massive disappointment. The fun of NHL, FIFA, NBA2K, and Madden was replaced with this lame game.
A charity tournament featuring the Serena Williams Naomi Osaka, and Maria Sharapova (along with other tennis players and celebrities) is using Mario Tennis Aces as their game of choice. While that tournament, officially named the "Stay at Home Slam", is also using Facebook to stream, there is a key difference. The video game of choice is much better suited for a virtual tennis event meant to draw in fans.
Mario games are more about having fun than having serious, realistic competition. And perhaps that was the Virtual Pro's problem, they were so intent on having pros in the game itself that they forgot that a less serious video game like Mario Tennis Aces would actually be more fun to play and watch.
Let's be honest, no video game is going to realistically mimic the Nadal topspin forehand on clay.
However, a word of caution for the "Stay at Home Slam": the tournament is using John McEnroe along with Justine Ezarik for commentary. I believe that having official commentary was a very poor choice for the Virtual Pro. The commentary was unnecessary and took away from the players' own commentary. Yet another way the tournament was taking itself too seriously.
I don't mean for this to be a post where I just crap all over the virtual tournament. However, if we are to have video game tennis tournaments in the future, it's important to learn from past mistakes and try to provide the best viewer experience possible.
I appreciate the Mutua Madrid Open stepping up to the plate and essentially being the guinea pig for quarantine virtual content. Future tournaments can take what happened at the Virtual Pro and hopefully put together a better product.
Showing posts with label Sorana Cirstea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sorana Cirstea. Show all posts
Saturday, May 2, 2020
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Bucharest Gives Sorana Cirstea a Chance to Revitalize Her Career
*Note: The blog, after undergoing a small suspension due to the writing of my novella, "Homeless and Silent", which you can find on amazon here, is back. The novella very affordable, 99 cents without Kindle Unlimited and free with Kindle Unlimited. It's written in an unconventional style and uses stream-of-consciousness elements. Enjoy!
It seems like just yesterday Sorana Cirstea was on top of the tennis world. The tournament was WTA Toronto, one of the biggest tournaments on tour outside of the Grand Slams, an event in which almost all of the top players regularly enter. After Cirstea's breakout tournament win in Tashkent over Sabine Lisicki in 2008 and French Open quarterfinal run in 2009, Toronto provided Cirstea the perfect opportunity to bring her game back to the level it was at a few years back, if not soar higher. Toronto was the time when Sorana's middling career could take off once more.
The 2013 WTA Toronto was the tournament of Sorana Cirstea's life. Cirstea made the Final of the tournament, and while she lost to Serena Williams, it was an unbelievable run from a largely unheralded player. The players that Cirstea beat made the feat all the more impressive. Sorana beat Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Jankovic, Petra Kvitova, and Li Na all in succesion. This included beating Jankovic and Li Na in straight sets. Considering that all of these players have, at least, made a major Final, it was almost inconceivable that Sorana Cirstea could pull this off. But, she did, and in August of that year, shortly after the Toronto run, she reached her career high ranking, number 21 in the world. The bad news for Sorana? It was all downhill from there.
Cirstea couldn't maintain the momentum she sustained in Toronto. She rounded out the 2013 season without making even the Quarterfinals of another event and went on a four-match losing streak to end the season, only winning one set in that span. In fact, Sorana only won three matches from the time she won her semifinal in Toronto until the end of the year. For a player with so much hope and promise, thoroughly deserved given the caliber of players she beat in Canada, this was very disappointing.
And it didn't get much better for Cirstea in 2014. She started off the year on a three-match losing streak (seven-match losing streak overall), meaning that she didn't even get a win (or even a set)until after the Australian Open. There were only two occasions in 2014 when Sorana could even put together two wins in a row (excluding Fed Cup), and the French Open was the last time all year that this occurred. WTA Montreal (the tournament switches between Toronto and Montreal every year) was a full-blown disaster for Cirstea as she lost in the First Round, and a ton of the points from her 2013 run fell off, meaning that her ranking went down the tubes. Cirstea ended 2014, like 2013 on a four-match losing streak.
2015 for Sorana has been poor, as well. She hasn't had a main-draw win in a WTA Tour-level event all season and has lost in qualifying for both the French Open and Wimbledon. Cirstea actually started this year on a six-match losing streak, which means she was on a ten-match overall losing streak including 2014. And while she finally won two matches in a row in her quarterfinal run in her previous tournament, Contrexeville, Cirstea desperately needs points. Sorana Cirstea is currently ranked number 161 in the world.
So, what does this all have to do with WTA Bucharest this week? Well, Bucharest is a Romanian tournament and Cirstea, being Romanian, received a wild card into the main draw, meaning that she didn't even have to remotely consider the possiblity of playing qualifying matches to get into her home-country tournament. Having the wild card gives Cirstea a nice platform to attempt to at least partially regain her 2013 Toronto form and get valuable points. At number 161 in the world, Cirstea is stuck playing qualifying matches at the majors, so a run in a tournament like Bucharest, which is a WTA-level event but not a high profile one, can allow Sorana to perhaps win a few matches and get her ranking closer to 100, which is around the place she needs to be to avoid slam qualies.
Her First Round opponent in Bucharest, Sesil Karatantcheva, is also very beatable. Sesil is currently on a three-match losing streak, and with the crowd thoroughly behind Sorana, oddsmakers only have Sorana as a slight underdog in the match. And while it isn't a cakewalk draw, Sorana can avoid the top two seeds until the Semifinals if she keeps winning. Perhaps Cirstea's home-country tournament could be yet another turning point in Sorana's career. It is important to note that, at 25, Cirstea has a lot of time to turn her career around, and a couple wins at a tournament like this could be exactly what she needs.
Sorana Cirstea has proven to the world before that she has what it takes to play with some of the best players in the world. It takes serious guts to come from a set down to a player of Sabine Lisicki's caliber and have the mental strength to take a third set tiebreak to win a WTA Title. It's also true that to make the Quarterfinals of a major, you have to have serious talent and mental fortitude. And tennis fans won't ever forget Cirstea's unbelievable run to the WTA Toronto Final.
WTA Bucharest could be the tournament that revitalizes the talents and mental strengths that once made Sorana such a formidable player. Playing in front of her home-country fans, the strain of having to potentially qualify gone from her mind, with a very winnable First Round match in front of her, it wouldn't be very surprising to see Sorana rise to the challenge once more.
It wouldn't be shocking to see a small WTA tournament in Bucharest, Romania revitalize Sorana Cirstea's career.
It seems like just yesterday Sorana Cirstea was on top of the tennis world. The tournament was WTA Toronto, one of the biggest tournaments on tour outside of the Grand Slams, an event in which almost all of the top players regularly enter. After Cirstea's breakout tournament win in Tashkent over Sabine Lisicki in 2008 and French Open quarterfinal run in 2009, Toronto provided Cirstea the perfect opportunity to bring her game back to the level it was at a few years back, if not soar higher. Toronto was the time when Sorana's middling career could take off once more.
The 2013 WTA Toronto was the tournament of Sorana Cirstea's life. Cirstea made the Final of the tournament, and while she lost to Serena Williams, it was an unbelievable run from a largely unheralded player. The players that Cirstea beat made the feat all the more impressive. Sorana beat Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Jankovic, Petra Kvitova, and Li Na all in succesion. This included beating Jankovic and Li Na in straight sets. Considering that all of these players have, at least, made a major Final, it was almost inconceivable that Sorana Cirstea could pull this off. But, she did, and in August of that year, shortly after the Toronto run, she reached her career high ranking, number 21 in the world. The bad news for Sorana? It was all downhill from there.
Cirstea couldn't maintain the momentum she sustained in Toronto. She rounded out the 2013 season without making even the Quarterfinals of another event and went on a four-match losing streak to end the season, only winning one set in that span. In fact, Sorana only won three matches from the time she won her semifinal in Toronto until the end of the year. For a player with so much hope and promise, thoroughly deserved given the caliber of players she beat in Canada, this was very disappointing.
And it didn't get much better for Cirstea in 2014. She started off the year on a three-match losing streak (seven-match losing streak overall), meaning that she didn't even get a win (or even a set)until after the Australian Open. There were only two occasions in 2014 when Sorana could even put together two wins in a row (excluding Fed Cup), and the French Open was the last time all year that this occurred. WTA Montreal (the tournament switches between Toronto and Montreal every year) was a full-blown disaster for Cirstea as she lost in the First Round, and a ton of the points from her 2013 run fell off, meaning that her ranking went down the tubes. Cirstea ended 2014, like 2013 on a four-match losing streak.
2015 for Sorana has been poor, as well. She hasn't had a main-draw win in a WTA Tour-level event all season and has lost in qualifying for both the French Open and Wimbledon. Cirstea actually started this year on a six-match losing streak, which means she was on a ten-match overall losing streak including 2014. And while she finally won two matches in a row in her quarterfinal run in her previous tournament, Contrexeville, Cirstea desperately needs points. Sorana Cirstea is currently ranked number 161 in the world.
So, what does this all have to do with WTA Bucharest this week? Well, Bucharest is a Romanian tournament and Cirstea, being Romanian, received a wild card into the main draw, meaning that she didn't even have to remotely consider the possiblity of playing qualifying matches to get into her home-country tournament. Having the wild card gives Cirstea a nice platform to attempt to at least partially regain her 2013 Toronto form and get valuable points. At number 161 in the world, Cirstea is stuck playing qualifying matches at the majors, so a run in a tournament like Bucharest, which is a WTA-level event but not a high profile one, can allow Sorana to perhaps win a few matches and get her ranking closer to 100, which is around the place she needs to be to avoid slam qualies.
Her First Round opponent in Bucharest, Sesil Karatantcheva, is also very beatable. Sesil is currently on a three-match losing streak, and with the crowd thoroughly behind Sorana, oddsmakers only have Sorana as a slight underdog in the match. And while it isn't a cakewalk draw, Sorana can avoid the top two seeds until the Semifinals if she keeps winning. Perhaps Cirstea's home-country tournament could be yet another turning point in Sorana's career. It is important to note that, at 25, Cirstea has a lot of time to turn her career around, and a couple wins at a tournament like this could be exactly what she needs.
Sorana Cirstea has proven to the world before that she has what it takes to play with some of the best players in the world. It takes serious guts to come from a set down to a player of Sabine Lisicki's caliber and have the mental strength to take a third set tiebreak to win a WTA Title. It's also true that to make the Quarterfinals of a major, you have to have serious talent and mental fortitude. And tennis fans won't ever forget Cirstea's unbelievable run to the WTA Toronto Final.
WTA Bucharest could be the tournament that revitalizes the talents and mental strengths that once made Sorana such a formidable player. Playing in front of her home-country fans, the strain of having to potentially qualify gone from her mind, with a very winnable First Round match in front of her, it wouldn't be very surprising to see Sorana rise to the challenge once more.
It wouldn't be shocking to see a small WTA tournament in Bucharest, Romania revitalize Sorana Cirstea's career.
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