Tragedy Doesn’t Stop Tournament

To play or not to play?

In the aftermath of Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, most sports chose the latter, opting to postpone sporting events throughout the country.

Still, there were the sounds of tennis at one site in Southern California. Play continued as scheduled at the $12,500 United States Tennis Assn.’s satellite event at The Claremont Club in Claremont, one of few local sporting events not to be postponed or canceled Tuesday.

Admission was free. You could walk right in and sit virtually anywhere. The show court was practically empty.

The only spectators seemed to be either tournament officials or people connected with the players.

Tournament director Barry Friedman conceded the decision to go forward could be viewed as insensitive.

“Yeah, it could very easily be,” he said. “We are sensitive to what went on. We just had to make a decision. It’s not for sure we should have.”

He said the decision had to be made by 10 a.m., when the scope of the attack wasn’t as clear as it was later in the day.

USTA supervisor Peter Kasavage said he would have thought about calling off play if any players had raised concerns.

“All the guys who were going to play were warming up,” he said. “If I had gotten an indication, I would have considered it. It’s probably better than sitting in the room getting more depressed. You sit there and get more depressed, angered and upset. It’s kind of a family decision--to do what you ordinarily do. I’m happy I made that decision.”

In Tarzana, tournament officials at that $50,000 USTA tournament at the Braemar Country Club postponed matches Tuesday. Play is scheduled to resume today at 10 a.m. A Pro-Am event for Friday has been canceled.

“We wanted to give the players and officials an opportunity to touch base with their families,” said tournament director Rick Workman. “Obviously, the whole world is focused on other things.”

At Claremont, the singles draw of 32 features players from many countries, including Germany, Finland, Croatia, Sweden and South Africa. The players weren’t surprised the event went on as scheduled.

“It kind of shows it is not a major event,” said Brandon Fallon of Dana Point, who lost in qualifying. “It’s the minor leagues [of tennis], not like baseball and stuff on TV. And it’s not all Americans.”

For Ronald Rugimbana of Tanzania, who also lost in qualifying, the events hit close to home. He was at Boise State during the terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania in 1998.

“The person who gave me the visa in 1996, I knew he was at the embassy,” he said. “I don’t know what happened to him.”

Former tour professional Brian Gottfried, coaching several players at the tournament, said of the decision to play, “I kind of wondered about that myself.”