Humidity now the villain in Napoli tournament chaos

Play at the ill-fated Napoli ATP 250 had to be halted on Wednesday due to humidity from the nearby Mediterranean affecting the court as the one-off event continues to vye for the title of worst tournament ever.

The match between Italian Luca Nardi and the Frenchman Corentin Moutet was stopped by the referee at 2-2 after just 34 minutes on court when the surface became too slippery to play safely on.

The disaster came after weekend qualifying had to be moved from the TC Napoli to a substitute venue at the TC Pozzuoli while awaiting arriving of another hardcourt trucked down from last week’s Florence event.

Both of the Italian venues were tacked onto the ATP calendar due to the COVID bans which have resulted in cancellation of the major October events in Beijing and Shanghai.

Officials must now worry about how to continue to stage the seaside tournament, which will almost certainly not be able to host any night matches due to humidity in the air and the fragility of the court surface.

Doubles have been moved to the Pozzuoli venue and it is possible the rest of the event might have to be shifted also.

Meanwhile, a Colombian doubles player has complained on Twitter about being turfed out of his hotel by organisers, with Nicolás Barrientos posting pictures of his and his wife’s luggage scattered across the lobby floor of a less-than-luxurious local hotel.

“I found all my belongings and those of my wife in the lobby, poorly packed, there were several things lying on the floor,” he said.

“I checked my email and found an email sent at 4 in the afternoon, while I was playing, notifying me that I had to change hotels again.

“They had already changed my hotel once, on the second day after my arrival at the tournament.

“I don’t even need to mention the mess with the courts, which everyone knows: the qualifying phase and the first round of doubles were played at a club 40 minutes from the official club.”