Dana Johannsen: Making the best of the tournament in a construction site stadium

The influx of fans to see Maria Sharapova had organisers keeping a watchful eye on how the stadium would hold up. Photo / Herald on Sunday

It was never ideal. But this year New Zealand's top tennis tournaments have had to be hosted in a construction zone.

The redevelopment of Auckland Tennis Centre has been an added headache for organisers of the ASB Classic. With Maria Sharapova headlining the women's tournament, there have been unprecedented numbers coming through the gates at Stanley St and organisers have been nervously keeping an eye on how the semi-complete stadium would hold up. Certainly there was trepidation among the public on Monday to find the patchwork facade to the building, the potted flowers dotted along the walkways doing little to mask the harsh construction-zone feel to the place.

Inside, the viewing experience is essentially the same and in some cases improved, but those first impressions stick. Auckland Tennis chief executive Greig Bramwell admits it was always to be a challenge not to let the construction detract from the main event, but said feedback had generally been positive. "I think there were concerns even before the tournament started that there was no way this thing was ever going to happen, because what you see from the road and what is still to be finished is the issue that they are seeing.

"In general the feedback has been reasonably positive, there is a genuine understanding that we are only 10 months in to a $26 million build."

The main complaints are the lack of seating and viewing areas around the outside courts, and poor access around the stadium. But Bramwell says these issues will be resolved once the building is completed this year.

"The areas of concern we have heard are all going to be addressed by 2012," he said. "Once the rooftop courts are working, we will have stands through the middle of court three and the other one is being able to do the circular walk-around. Once the stand has been finished, you will be able to walk round the entire facility."

There have been murmurings of more serious concerns during the week, with claims the lighting and some of the court surfaces are not up to scratch. But these whisperings have not amounted to formal complaints.

Bramwell admits there was a problem with one of the back courts when the new plexi-cushion surface was laid, with the surface undulating slightly.

"The good thing is we laid the court early so they were able to come back in and flatten it off," he said.

"We haven't had any negative feedback from players, so it seems to have been fixed."

Bramwell dismissed as "a storm in a teacup" reports earlier in the week that a WTA official had threatened to cancel night matches because the lighting on centre court was not up to scratch.

He said the temporary shade over the Redwood stand had created a couple of problems with the positioning of the lights, but the lighting is "better than it has ever been".

It appears the players are largely accepting of some of the makeshift arrangements this year.

They are happy to conduct post-match press conferences in the underground carpark, and also go through their warm-ups there.

"I think what we're really lucky with is that a lot of players come here year on year on year, so I suppose the new people have come along thinking 'why are we in a construction site?'. But a lot of the players who are loyal to us and come here regularly are pleasantly surprised with the progress," said Bramwell.

"The players' lounge is sensational compared to what they had so they're really happy with that. They're happy with the court and the atmosphere has been great."

"They know once this has finished it will be something very, very special."