Hey guys! My impressions about the event:
Infrastructure
The selected place (Botafogo Arena) wasn't the most indicated place to hold the event in my opinion, however, it fitted well. The illumination there was good, high enough not to disturb, and the crowd seats were confortable, permitting a good view from the table from all places. The only bad thing about it, is that the gymnasium was not totally closed, it had kind of a roof, that you can see in the print screen (
https://i.snag.gy/hyHZCb.jpg), and even though they've put some big black curtains to block outside light and wind, we still had there some sunlight in the table for some moments, and a little wind too, that didn't spoil the event. Also, some little problems with the floor, that in some places started to tear out and the staff guys had to use some tape in it.
The Crowd
Since the beggining of the event the crowd was very respectful, supporting, applausing and watching the games in a very good way. Unfortunately, brazilians have the bad habit to boo brazilians' oponents (I recognize that), to the point of being distracful or disrespectful, and it didn't happen yesterday. It provided a very good atmosphere for the matches.
The Matches
The first match between Canderano and Saive was excellent. Saive wasn't in his best day, but showed again his funny spirit, taking lots of laughs out of the crowd during his moans an each hit, jumping the fence, going down to the floor asking for help, or asking umpires' help to win some points. Calderano dominated the game, with a fast and agressive gameplay, demanding all the energy from Saive, that got tired along the match. 3x2 games for Calderano.
The second match between Tsuboi and Persson was also a catchy one. In the beggining we could see a very balanced game, with Tsuboi attacking more agressively than Persson, but his experience counted a lot; he could adapt himself to Tsuboi's gameplay, and acting like this he could win two sets. In the last set, Tsuboi changed a little his strategy, using more serve variations, forcing Persson to move a lot in the table, and finished winning the last set and match.
In the doubles game, we saw that the Legends' double worked better together than brazilians', but we had some exciting long-distance rallies. Unfortunately, though, brazilians failed a lot at easy balls, and ended losing the match.
The last match, Calderano x Liqin, Calderano started showing all his power with his forehand smashes and his characteristic backhand parallel shot, that got Liqin several times in the first set (11x3 for Calderano). In the following sets, Liqin started to defend better and counter-attack Calderano's shots, but even with Liqin's amazing shape for his 38's, Calderano had more energy and beat him 3x1 sets with a more balanced dispute.
I confess that I loved the event! The atmosphere, the players, everything, for me, was amazing, and exceeded my expectations! The players throwed some shirts and some signed balls, i couldn't get any
but I could get Calderano's and Saive's signatures on my shirt!
I'll post a picture of it later!
Don't have much pictures because my phone got full memory... but these were my impressions!
Cheers!
