Farmers Tennis Classic Update – Getting Through Carmageddon

Written by: Tennischiro on 23rd July 2011

Farmers Tennis Classic Update - Getting Through Carmageddon

Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci returns a ball to Uruguayan Martin Cuevas during their Davis Cup American Zona 1 quarterfinals game at the Carrasco Lawn Tennis in Montevideo, Uruguay, 08 July 2011. EPA/Sandro Pereyra |

Update from Farmer’s Tennis Classic – Friday, July 22, 2011

Getting through Carmageddon

Well, I made it through the stretch of 405 made famous last weekend as Carmageddon. It was clear sailing on my way in, but it bit me pretty good on the way out. There is a reason there was no traffic last weekend. Angelenos hate traffic. We put up with it, but we hate it. When they announced weeks ahead of time that last weekend’s traffic was going to be apocalyptic, a lot of people made other plans because they knew how bad “normal” can be.

If you are driving to the tournament by way of the 405, please check traffic advisories and shutdowns. There were no restricted off-ramps at Sunset today, but the on-ramps northbound were all closed and Sunset Blvd. Westbound from UCLA was just one step up from parking lot status. By the time I went south on the 405 and got turned around going back north, I had wasted an extra half hour. And this is just midday…and summer session at UCLA. If they have those closures in the evening hours during the tournament, I’m going west out of UCLA and taking surface streets over Mulholland. Be forewarned.

When you do get to UCLA, be sure to park in Structure 7, as far south and west as you can. Remember to note your staircase when you come out so you don’t get lost and end up in the wrong structure. That happened to me a couple of years ago. And if you are going to quails this weekend, I apologize, but the great seating at the Sunset Recreation courts is no more: a bunch of courts have been replaced by a swimming pool and the qualis have been moved to the “Sycamore courts”. The best place to park for those courts is Parking Area 15. It looks like you can get in from Veteran and park on side streets outside the campus, but the gates to the outside at the courts were closed and locked today. It would be a long walk all the way around. Sadly those courts at Sycamore do not have the great baseline seating we had at the Sunset courts, but they do have a couple of good trees over the grassy knoll you will have to sit on to watch the matches. Unfortunately, that area is really only the size of that other “grassy knoll”. They must not be expecting many spectators this weekend. In addition, they cancelled the “Shootout” for a spot in the main draw. They must be expecting a couple of good last minute wildcard applications if they didn’t want to give up that slot in the draw. The “Shootout” was an attractive event. The Shootout at Pacific Palisades will be an interesting event, but it won’t supply any entry into the actual tournament. Nevertheless, with substantial money at stake for a few hours of action, I wouldn’t be surprised to find some scavenging ATP journeymen with a free Sunday afternoon showing up at that Shootout for a chance at a little pocket money.

I felt bad about encouraging people to go to the Sunset courts to take advantage of the great viewing opportunities there; and as well, suggesting they see today’s non-existent “Shootout” for a spot in the draw, so I wanted to get this post up as soon as possible.

It was great to get on the site. I was able to get my credential and even my parking pass without any problem. It’s the day before the qualis and there is a lot of unfinished business being taken care of. Tents and temporary structures are still going up. Provisions are being laid in for all kinds of things. Communications systems are begin set up and tested. It reminded me a lot of the weekends before we started Huggy Bears back in NY. Just a few players around.

I ran into Larri Passos working out Thomaz Bellucci and one of his other young hopefuls. They were on the grandstand court; no one else there. When I saw him trying to explain something, I whipped out my Casio high speed video camera and offered to take some shots for him. And I was able to play it back for Thomaz right away. I was interested in talking to Larri because he did an interview with John Yandell on Tennisplayer.net where he talked about changing Guga’s backhand from two hands to one. I have a student with the same body type that just turned 13 and we are struggling a little with his backhand. I wanted to know how good Guga was when he made the change: about 14 and top 20 in Brazil. When Larri said he would need to see video of the players backhand to make any suggestion, I just happened to have some shots of my student on the memory chip in the camera. Certainly, nothing conclusive occurred there, but it is nice to have an opinion with that experience. He gave me some ideas of drills he put other students through without changing to one hand. (And I have a lesson with that student this afternoon!) That was fun. Actually, just watching Bellucci hit the ball up close like that is great fun.

Then I walked over to the players lounge which was completely deserted and then out to the center court. Fernando Gonzales was hitting with, perhaps, Nicolas Massu (I wasn’t sure). It’s hard to believe their rankings have dropped to 296 and 481. There wasn’t a single person in the stadium watching them. A lot of work going on in the luxury boxes, workers putting up banners, etc.; but not a single fanny in a seat to watch these two Olympic gold medalists practicing.

There will be plenty of opportunities for you at the main site this weekend to see great players in action getting ready for next week as well as really good players fighting for their competitive lives in qualifying matches at the Sycamore courts; but you’ll have to take your fanny over near Carmageddon to see it. It’s worth the risk.

TennisChiro