Nadal says it’s too noisy under retractable roof
new york — It’s too loud under the US Open roof for Rafael Nadal.
Even though the US Tennis Association tried to lessen the noise in Arthur Ashe Stadium after the retractable cover’s debut during last year’s tournament, there was still quite a bit of ambient sound when the top was shut because of rain on Tuesday.
“Too much noise, no?” the No. 1-seeded Nadal said after beating Dusan Lajovic 7-6 (8/6), 6-2, 6-2 in the first round. “I was not able to hear the ball when you are hitting, no?”
Nadal, who counts two US Open championships among his 15 Grand Slam titles, actually participated in the first match contested under the shut roof at the 2016 US Open, when the $150 million sliding cover made its debut atop the event’s main arena. Back then, he called it an “unbelievable improvement,” because it finally allowed for play when it rains in New York. The man he beat that day, Andreas Seppi, was the one who made a point of saying, “There really was a lot of noise.”
Madison Keys, an American seeded 15th, played with the roof closed on Tuesday night and was struck by the sound level.
“Truly, it was the loudest court I’ve ever played on in my life. I’m assuming it had to do with the roof just holding all of that noise in,” Keys said. “It took a while to get used to it.”
Some players and spectators described the sounds last year as being similar to a rushing waterfall, a result of a combination of equipment in the stadium and 20,000-plus fans speaking.
The USTA pledged a year ago to try to improve the situation and spokesman Chris Widmaier said on Tuesday that steps had been taken: — a cellphone tower above the stadium’s broadcast booths was moved; — old air conditioning equipment in the same spot was replaced with modern units that he said are much quieter; — sound-dampening material was placed above other AC units located outside of Ashe.
Widmaier acknowledged that last year’s “background noise level ... needed to be, at a minimum, reduced, if not eliminated.”
Told of Nadal’s complaint on Tuesday, Widmaier agreed “it was loud in there today, especially with the roof closed.”—