His second-round match against Ugo Humbert had originally been scheduled on Grandstand, the tournament’s second-largest show court with a 5,000-person capacity. However, at the last minute they were moved to the nearly 14,000-person main Stadium court after a gap opened in the schedule due to a retirement in an earlier match.
The court change—which also required the purchase of a ticket upgrade—outraged Brazilian fans who had been waiting on Grandstand for the entire day. The announcement was met with boos from the crowd so loud that the ongoing match between Jack Draper and Jakub Mensik had to be paused temporarily to restore order.
Blake will work to make sure that won’t happen again. Fonseca says he “had a great chat” with the tournament director before he plays Fabian Marozsan in the first round.
“I think the international interest in both of them is so high,” tournament director Blake said of Fonseca and Eala. “And Miami being sort of a cultural melting pot with so much international flavor here… I think we’re going to need them to be on center court, because they have so many fans worldwide.
“These might feel like home matches, for both of them.”
