It'll be interesting to hear from the players but I have to say I like the open plan arena at the Tempodrom in Berlin.
It gives the audience the chance to watch every match and creates a really good atmosphere in the room.
There wasn't much evidence yesterday that the players are distracted by it...time will tell whether it's judged a success.
The crowds were certainly very good and treated to an interesting day's play that culminated in the elimination of world champion Neil Robertson.
After all the passport trouble he arrived at the venue with little time to spare and was clearly sluggish early on.
Anthony Hamilton made hay, making a series of big breaks including two centuries to lead 4-2.
Then, the Aussie produced some typically fine back-to-the-wall snooker to draw level and the stage seemed set for his eventual scraping over the line.
However, Hamilton saved his best for last, making another century to clinch a 5-4 victory.
Perhaps the biggest shock of the day, though, was Joe Swail's 5-3 defeat of his fellow Northern Irishman Mark Allen.
Swail had no form whatsoever to speak of; Allen had been a semi-finalist in the UK Championship and the Masters.
It proves that it is basically all on the day on a circuit full of talent.
John Higgins was the last player to win a major ranking event staged in Germany and starts his berlin campaign against Robert Milkins, runner-up to Nigel Bond in the Shootout at the weekend.
The last 16 of the German Masters will also be played today, with Stephen Hendry hoping to follow up his encouraging win over Judd Trump yesterday by beating Mark Selby.
10 comments:
I'm here in Berlin and the players to like the open plan setup a lot. Each and everyone has praised it in postmatches so far.
Yes it's a bit more difficult to concentrate but they all said the atmosphere it creates certainly makes up for that.
They are also unanimous in their praise of the German crowd. Very knowledgeable.
Hats off to Neil that he did show up in Berlin after all and didn't take the easy way out by withdrawing.
The open arena with 5 tables looks a bit weird on tv, but I too would love to know what the players think about this setup.
Looking forward to being there from the QF on! :-)
I like the layout - it would be good if it were adopted in tournaments here. At present if you go to an outside table there are few spectators. This might change if they were still able to keep an eye on other games
It would be excellent to see Hamilton win this event.
His failure to have won a major title is an injustice to his undoubted talent, like Marco Fu his career record baffles me.
Hamilton is possessed with a strong all-round game and a sound temperament, at least outwardly. So should have appeared in more than two ranking finals.
I've really enjoyed it so far. Hamilton delivered the goods even after Robertson taking it into the 9th frame. 3 centuries in a match where he was supposed to be aussie cannon fodder.
Now Hendry needs to create another great surprise. Too bad we can't watch it. Skiing from early morning right up to the evening session almost. With a brand new event, and being the only broadcaster (unlike skiing which is on several other channels) Eurosport should be more supportive of this event.
Anyway, I would be happy just to read about Hendry shining since that is the option at hand.
Eurosport Player are broadcasting throughout the day, every day. Eurosport in mainland Europe are also showing more than the UK version I think.
Actually in the UK every session was live yesterday and every session is live today. Times vary on the continent.
Maybe it is just Eurosport Nordic then? And I do have a Player subscription but it is nothing but buffering, buffering, buffering. I stream all the time on my broadband connection, I've contacted tech support but they say it's all good.
Anyway, I hope mainland Europe can watch the tournament; hopefully at least Germany.
Strange, I've got Eurosport Player for over a year now and very rarely do I have to wait for buffering, even on the highest quality. Maybe it's something with your computer?
On a side note, I can now enjoy the british commentary as well as the Swedish one. So looking forward to hear more from you, Dave, in the future! :D And Joe Johnson as well, I hope.
you want to hear more of Joe?
Jeez...
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