The top tennis players on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour will be dazzling the crowds by day at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami later this month, but once the sun sets, a new version of tennis will be lighting up the night on the grounds of the Tennis Center at Crandon Park.
Actually, night tennis is not new – a lot of people have tried it in the past.
You get two not-too-sane individuals on a tennis court at night, cut out the lights, and start hitting.
The first person to win a set without breaking any bones or running into the net post wins. The winner gets to drive her opponent to the hospital and visits to her psychiatrist for the rest of the year.
Okay, so that’s the “don’t try this at home” version of Night Tennis. Fortunately, there is another way to have fun at night, but this one still carries a warning – be careful and don’t expect to see Maria Sharapova out there doing this the night before the ladies final.
Night Tennis, Sony Ericsson’s contribution to helping promote tennis, originally debuted at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid. Reviews were mixed at the time, but the Tour decided to give it another try at this year’s Sony Ericsson Open – formerly known as the Ericsson Open, the Lipton International Players Championships, and the NASDAQ-100 Open.
I’m of mixed feelings on this one – if it promotes the true game of tennis, then it is a good thing.
But if it only attracts the type of people that want nothing more to pretend that this is the Tour’s equivalent of Star Wars, I’m more inclined to think that the money could be spent in much better ways to help reach fans that will follow tennis throughout the year and not just during events that feature two people running around in ultraviolet reflecting suits.
