HOEHR-GRENZHAUSEN (Germany): Germany’s Dustin Brown said returning to competitive action at the Tennis Point Exhibition Series in Germany this week amidst the coronavirus pandemic was a surreal experience.

Brown, who famously beat Rafa Nadal at Wimbledon in 2015, is the highest-profile player in the eight-man field at the event being held at the Base Tennis centre near Koblenz.

The ATP and WTA Tours remain suspended until mid-July at the earliest, but the event in Brown’s home country, the first of three that will form the Exo Tennis Series, has at least offered the chance of some competitive action.

“It’s nice to finally play, it’s a little surreal to be honest, with everything that is actually going on in the world,” former world number 64 Brown said after winning his opening two round-robin matches on Friday. “With all the safety guidelines I think everyone has done pretty well, doing their best. Even sometimes when it’s not that easy. Very happy to be out here and have some fun.”

The event is taking place without spectators, line judges and ball kids and there are no handshakes after the match.

Players arrive alone and have their own designated space in the venue to prepare. Once on court they sit at opposite sides during the changeovers. The event continues until Monday.

Matches on the indoor claycourt are played over a short format, first to four games and no advantage scoring.

Brown, speaking to the Tennis Channel who are streaming the action live, said in some respects it was a little easier.

“There is not that much pressure,” the 35-year-old, who helped devise the format with Base Tennis owner Rodney Rapson, said. “It’s hard to get up and train when you don’t know when you can play so this event has definitely helped the mindset for the last couple of weeks, knowing something might happen.

“It’s been a little light at the end of the tunnel.”

Despite the strict controls, day one went smoothly, once the local police department had checked out the social-distancing measures being employed before giving it the green light.

“Everything was done to ensure the players’ safety and while it was a little different for them, especially the ones ranked higher, the players appreciated it,” Christian Klapthor, a spokesman for Playsight, one of the partners companies of the Series, said. “The distancing measures were very controlled. After every match the benches where the players sit were wiped down with disinfectant and players arrived and left the court alone.”

He said the German tennis federation’s guidance on handling tennis balls said there was minimal risk in infection.

“Only if one player spat on a ball and the other put it in his mouth, which is pretty unlikely.”

Later, former world number 64 Brown beat Constantin Schmitz 4-2, 4-2 to get his round-robin matches under way and returned to court later to beat Werner 4-3 (5) 4-3 (4).

The scoring system is the same as used at the ATP’s Next Gen Finals in Milan with best of three short sets to four, tiebreaks at 3-3 and ‘no advantage’ scoring.

With ‘in-play’ betting on the matches available through online bookmakers, the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU), which like the ATP Tour, has not sanctioned the event, stressed that players are still governed by anti-corruption rules.

“The TIU has, upon request, provided integrity-related information to some organisers,” the organisation said. “This does not constitute advice and can in no way be seen as an endorsement or approval of any event that does not come under its jurisdiction.

“It is vital that as these new events begin to appear they regard integrity as a non-negotiable central priority to reduce any risk of match-fixing and betting-related corruption.”

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2020