But he also praised the tournament’s seaside location and the crowd-pleasing all-Italian final between Matteo Berrettini and Lorenzo Musetti, saying the “good public showing” was a “sign we were right to bid for these tournaments in Italy.”
Problems began before the start of the tournament on Thursday, when heavy rain caused damage to the hard courts that had been installed by Mapfei, leading some players to refuse to play on the surface upon arrival.
The qualifying event was shifted to another location 40 minutes away while the courts were resurfaced with Greenset, apparently brought in from Florence. The start of play was delayed on Monday, and even once underway, the evening sessions had to be stopped during the week because of humidity that caused the courts to become slippery.
In addition, doubles player Nicholas Barrientos wrote on social media that his luggage had been removed and left in front of his hotel room, also saying that he had already had to change hotels and getting to the courts was difficult.