Davis Cup lands in Amsterdam today

The Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam has, for the first time, been transformed into a suitable event space for tennis with the Davis Cup launching this weekend. Laying a gravel court in place of a star-studded stage has been the most difficult in this conversion process, Het Parool reports. The Ziggo Dome, usually reserved for the likes of Lady Gaga and Bryan Adams is now the stage for the Davis Cup matches between The Netherlands and Croatia. The first match will start today at 1 p.m. The contractor for the project, Erik Wijnbergen says that Ziggo Dome is a safe choice for laying a tennis court because of the unpredictable weather in September. Two years ago, the Davis Cup was still played in the Westerpark. Wijnbergen says that his team only had three days to lay the gravel court in the Ziggo Dome, rather than the usual two weeks. The court has to conform with Federation standards, and has to be smoothed to avoid any chance of holes or unevenness. The tournament will be played Friday through Sunday, and will feature the Dutch tennis team fighting hard against the Croatians, who have US Open winner Marin Cilic behind them. Dutch tennis player Guus van Berkel is happy with the new gravel court, but tells Het Parool that his team will have a hard time against Cilic.

In de @ZiggoDome ligt vandaag een gravelbaan. Feitje: dit gravel is ook gebruikt tegen Oostenrijk en Japan (Fed Cup). pic.twitter.com/Ocnyp8186R

— KNLTB (@KNLTB) September 5, 2014

De ombouw van de @ZiggoDome tot tennistempel is klaar, en het resultaat mag er zijn! Kaarten kopen? Ga naar knltb.nl. pic.twitter.com/SvYohoa6vu

— KNLTB (@KNLTB) September 7, 2014