During the Rosmalen tennis tournament in 2022, the rain fell from the sky in buckets. How different it is this year with temperatures around 30 degrees. How do visitors to the Libéma Open deal with the heat? “The spectators have been well thought of.”
Hannie Wiltenburg enjoys a Bossche bol on a shaded terrace. Her husband Dick opts for a strawberry pastry with an ice-cold drink. Hannie: “We have seen nice moments on the tennis courts and are now resting nicely. There are bottles of water in my bag and there are taps. Good measures have been taken in terms of cooling. But it must be hot for the players. She have to go full steam ahead.”
A little further on, Annie Lambrechts is sitting on a bench with two friends. In the past she was 19 times world champion in roller skating, but her daughters made her a tennis enthusiast. “We are here to encourage our compatriots from Belgium. Is it not too hot for that? No, they will hear that we are here. But outside the games we look for the shade, because we want to play the whole get through the week.”
Near the center court, Frisian Sjoerdtje Hoekstra fills her bottles at a water tap. “It’s hot, but it’s well organized here. By drinking a lot and not being in the sun for long, it’s certainly bearable”, while she wipes the sweat from her forehead.
Floris Janssen (12) from Velp and Jilles Thijs (11) from Grave are not bothered by the heat and hit a ball. They have just been a ball child and will hit the track again later in the day. Floris: “We can bring a bottle to drink during the breaks. If it gets too hot, we’ll be on the track a little less. But it’s doable.”
Both are tennis enthusiasts and are looking forward to it. “For example, we saw Daniil Medvedev training. We can learn a lot from that. And we are looking forward to Venus Williams’ match,” says Jilles. His boyfriend is also a fan of the Russian number 3 in the world. “We saw incredible things. How can you be so good?”
Bauke van den Bersselaar from Uden was a ball child during the final last year and started this Monday with a match on the center court. “This is so much fun to do. It never gets boring. The tennis players are very friendly and they know that we are there to help them. I hope that I can still be on the court with world top player Medvedev in this tournament. The heat? There I don’t mind. Everything is well arranged for us.”
Medvedev lost the final to Tim van Rijthoven last year and really wants to win this edition. “But he just didn’t look completely satisfied, because he threw his racket on the ground several times,” said Waalwijker Quinn Groenendijk along the training track. “It’s impressive to see such a guy at work. His service is bizarrely good.”