Reem's Diary: Bizarre Wuhan

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  • Wuhan - Fascinating opening ceremony.

    It’s my first time covering a tennis tournament in China and let’s just say that getting my initiation in Wuhan has been quite the experience so far.

    Simply put, in Wuhan, things are done differently.

    Where else would you get an opening ceremony that features 200 kids dancing to the official Wuhan song – which is incredibly catchy by the way – doing a full routine that is choreographed with tennis racquets in their hands?

    Where else would you have a players’ party featuring laser-trimmed men dancing in the dark, a magician pulling a tissue paper out of an orange, a man juggling kitchen utensils, another simultaneously spinning 10 plates spread on a table, and a female DJ, dressed in a bustier made out of flowers, wearing a crown on her head, and dropping some hardcore dance tunes in the corner of the ballroom?

    Gavrilova and Pavlyuchenkova. (Credit: Visual China Group)

    Gavrilova and Pavlyuchenkova. (Credit: Visual China Group)

    Who was dancing to those tracks? Kateryna Bondarenko’s three-year-old daughter with Swiss teenage player Belinda Bencic.

    Who were trying to take over as DJs but failed miserably? Daria Gavrilova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

    Yes, that’s how things are done in Wuhan.

    The city is the capital of the province Hubei, and is considered a financial hub in central China.

    It’s a busy city, with lots of traffic – some crazy driving but being from Cairo I’m unfazed by that – and is a place where virtually no one speaks English.

    Which explains why the tournament cars here have a “conversation card” that has common phrases you would need to tell your driver written in both English and Mandarin, so you could point to the sentence you need to say and he can read it in his own language.

    The tennis stadium is located in the Optics Valley area which is a brand new neighborhood that came to life in the last few years and is quite remote from the central parts of town.

    The facility itself is incredible.

    The place is huge, that I feel I need a scooter to make it across from the media centre to the players’ lounge. A trip to the outside courts would probably warrant an Uber.

    It’s a state-of-the-art $225 million venue with a 15,000-seat centre court that has a retractable roof. The roof was shut for the opening ceremony on Sunday morning and when it was opening, it looked like something out of a sci-fi futuristic movie.

    It’s still the start of the tournament and there’s still loads to see but colour me intrigued by this bizarre yet fascinating Wuhan.

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