Revamped Ariake Park on target for Tokyo 2020
It’s nearly all systems go across Tokyo, with most of the venues delivered and excitement starting to build nine months before the Opening Ceremony for the 2020 Olympic Games.
And that state of readiness extends to the revamped Ariake Tennis Park, where players, ITF officials and local Games organisers got together at the Olympic and Paralympic test event — the Mitsubishi All-Japan Championships — held there between October 23 and November 3.
Court No.2 has yet to be constructed, but with the new-look Coliseum show court and brand new Court No.1 already in play, things are shaping up nicely in Ariake — and elsewhere — for Koji Murofushi, Sports Director of Tokyo 2020.
“The good part is we are on time for all the venues, especially as we are building them and the related infrastructure all the time, so that gives us a very big advantage — not having to worry about this,” said Murofushi, a former hammer thrower who bagged gold at Athens 2004 and bronze at London 2012.
“We have great tennis players in Japan. Japanese people are very proud of them and expectations are really high, and together with the ITF we really want to prepare the best we can for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, so I’m really looking forward to it,” said Murofushi.
After winning a single-set exhibition match at the test event, Kamiji gave positive feedback as she led ITF officials around the facilities.
“It all looks very good, I like it — when I played in the World Team Cup here [in 2016], there were many problems for us, like many stairs, and it took a long time to get around to the toilets and courts, but they’ve changed many things,” said the world No.2.
“It’s like a very Japanese style of doing things carefully. The organisers care about many details, and they asked me and some other wheelchair players many questions about what we need, and they try to improve more — they want to make people feel welcome.”
For Kris Dent, senior executive director of professional tennis at the ITF, the test event is all about the granular details of the behind-the-scenes operation, and ensuring the long-term legacy of the facilities.
“Clearly a huge amount of progress has been made. Centre court is looking fantastic, all the auxiliary facilities that are required — particularly the indoor tennis centre — are up and exactly how we need them, and Court 1 is being used for the test event,” he said.
“And a lot of it is good for legacy — you can see how the tennis centre itself, which is a public, community-based tennis club — is going to have a pretty enhanced offering after the Games, and that’s very important.
“As well as the on-court test event itself, in terms of the things we’re trying to achieve, we’re looking at how the backroom facilities are working, where there are areas that need to be adjusted, and where we need to put the contingencies in place.”
“There will be somewhere in the region of 250 ITF staff in regards to backroom teams, support teams, and also the officials — international and national — so it’s going to be a pretty big job to put this event on.
Shingo Kunieda, gold medalist at Beijing 2008 and London 2012 — and recent singles and doubles winner at the Rakuten Japan Open — also played a short exhibition match at the test event and, like Kamiji, gave the ITF team his feedback about the venue.
“The facility is very accessible — toilets, locker room — and has a lot of ramps, many more than before,” said the 22-time Grand Slam winner.
“I played at the Japan Open this month. It was the first time we played wheelchair tennis at that event and so many spectators came to watch. In the final, there were almost 2,500 people on Court No.1.
“Japanese people are interested in Paralympics now. Sometimes a home match gives me more pressure, but sometimes the fans give me energy — and I hope it is energy that they give me next year.”
Energy is one thing all players will definitely need, with mid-summer daytime temperatures routinely topping 30 degrees Celsius, and the thermometer rarely dipping below the high 20s at midnight.
“The heat’s not an uncommon challenge that we’ve had to face — Athens (2004), Beijing (2008) and others — so there’ll be a heat rule put in place and a number of other contingencies to ensure the safety of fans, players and officials, so that, like at all international tennis events, we’re ready to deal with whatever’s coming,” said Dent.