FLORIANOPOLIS, Brazil -- Gustavo Kuerten
and Patrick Rafter, two the world's top tennis players, will
come face-to-face on Friday within sniffing distance of a fruit
and vegetable market.
Around 10,000 fans are expected to watch the first rubber of
the Davis Cup quarterfinal between Brazil and Australia -- but
they will have to cross a sea of mud and rubble resembling an
army assault course to get to their seats.
Brazil are playing host to the match at a hastily-erected makeshift
stadium situated on a seafront road in the southern city of
Florianopolis.
But on Thursday, fewer than 24 hours before the first rubber
was due to start, organizers were clearly facing a race against
time to complete the venue.
The entire stadium was surrounded by a sea of mud, puddles
of filthy brown water and piles of stones. One bulldozer was
working in the area as children from a neighboring school
crossed the site, apparently oblivious to the danger.
Organizers guaranteed that the court as well as the
interior of the stadium already had been completed and that
only cosmetic touches needed to be made to the surrounding area.
One side of the stadium lies parallel to the market, and the
smell of rotting fruit pervades the air.
Another side of the stand faces the school, where one room
has been taken over by the Brazilian Tennis Confederation's
media department.
Brazil does not have a permanent venue capable of hosting
even a modest tennis tournament and though various plans have
been put forward to build one, none have gone further than a
piece of paper.
As a result, the country continues to be conspicuous by its
absence from the ATP circuit, which has this year visited Chile,
Colombia, Argentina and Mexico.
Kuerten, the world's No. 2, has said he wants his
country to be included on the circuit as the Davis Cup is
the only chance he gets to play competitively in his
homeland.
When the Davis Cup comes, improvisation is the order of the
day.
Last year's match against Slovakia was played in a private
club in Rio de Janeiro, where car alarms and barking dogs from a
neighboring block of flats distracted players throughout.
Davis Cup courts also have been erected in the car park of a
Rio de Janeiro shopping mall and on the beach in the north-
eastern city of Maceio.
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