This year is the 10th anniversary of the city hosting the ATP Masters 1000 tournament and Ma Yue talks to three of the people involved — the engineer responsible for the venue’s remarkable roof, the chef who keeps the players fed, and the fan hooked on Federer.

Game, set and match for Wang’s retractable roof

Even today, the magnolia-shaped roof of the Qizhong Tennis Center’s center court remains a sophisticated struc­ture that can hardly be duplicated, said Wang Qiyu, former deputy general man­ager of the tennis center in southwest Minhang District.

Wang, who used to work for Shanghai Sports Bureau, was in charge of the Qi­zhong Tennis Center project when the city government decided to build an arena capable of hosting international tennis tournaments such as the ATP Masters at the beginning of the century when tennis was still regarded as a “sport for the nobility” by most Chinese.

From 2002, when a construction com­mittee for the center was established, Wang has witnessed the building of a world-class arena as well as its exten­sion and renovation, making sure it would serve the ATP tournament well.

He is still in charge of the daily main­tenance of the roof despite reaching retirement age last year.

“This is undoubtedly the best proj­ect of my career,” Wang told Shanghai Daily. He majored in mechanical auto­mation in school and took part in the design and construction of almost all the major sports venues in Shanghai, including Shanghai Stadium, the Orien­tal Sports Center and the professional football stadium in Pudong which is under construction.

After Shanghai successfully hosted the Heineken Open from 1998 to 2001, it won the opportunity to host the ATP Finals, also known as the Masters Cup, in 2002.

“However, the Masters Cup requires an indoor arena, while the Xianxia Tennis Center where the Heineken Open was held didn’t have a roof,” said Wang. “The 2002 Masters Cup was therefore held in a temporary arena we set up in the newly built Shang­hai New International Expo Center in Pudong. The city government then decided to build a new tennis court which can host both outdoor and in­door competitions.”

Wang was among the first batch of staff to start work at Qizhong, which was still a rural area in early 2003.

“The major problem was, no design institute or architecture company in the country had experience in com­bining a construction with a huge but sophisticated mechanical device.”

Wang said he knew about the diffi­culty when Shanghai Customs College attempted to build a retractable roof for its swimming pool. However, the roof could not be opened on the very first day of its completion.

“At that time, Japan was a leading country in the area of retractable roofs. We called for bids and decided to use a proposal by a Japanese design institute. The project was too complicated and Ja­pan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was the only constructor claiming it was capable of making the system. How­ever, the company was asking for 300 million yuan (US$44 million).”

While Wang hesitated over the bid, a new candidate emerged — the People’s Liberation Army General Ar­maments Department’s engineering design and research center.

“They make launchers for rockets and missiles. They are reliable because they are from the army. And most im­portantly, they quoted a price of just 1.2 million yuan,” said Wang.

The steel roof with eight sliding petal-shaped sections was eventually accomplished around Chinese New Year of 2005. With a total weight of 280 tons, each sliding piece was of the size of four basketball courts. After tests on the ground, it was hoisted into place on top of center court.

“There was other work such as the choice of the covering material. We also had to make sure that the roof didn’t leak or all our efforts would be a waste,” said Wang.

On October 3, 2005, Roger Federer and then Vice Mayor Yang Xiaodu pressed the “open” button of the steel roof at a launch ceremony for the 15,000-seat center court — one month before the start of the 2005 Masters Cup.

Apart from the center court, Qizhong Tennis Center has six indoor courts and 16 outdoor courts.

Federer’s favorite food? Just ask the chef!

When players are asked what they like most about the Rolex Shanghai Masters, voted the best ATP 1000 tournament for five straight years since its inception in 2009, many mention the food.

Player’s Restaurant chef Yan Dilie has been working at The Kunlun Jing An Hotel (former Hilton Shanghai Hotel) for 19 years, and is now its banquet chief chef. The hotel has been involved in Shanghai’s top-tier tennis tournaments since the Heineken Open. Yan started cooking for the world’s top tennis stars at the 2003 Heineken Open Shanghai and has served at the Shanghai Masters Cup and now the Rolex Shanghai Masters. As chief chef, he is in charge of the Player’s Restaurant and VIP rooms.

“Roger Federer’s favorite dish? It is actu­ally pizza,” said Yan. “But it’s not a normal pizza, but a tailored pizza.”

Yan said it’s a service the Player’s Restau­rant introduced a few years ago — players can name the ingredients they want in a pizza. The recipe would be saved and the pizza would be named after the player and put on the menu for other players to order.

“Federer’s pizza has the ingredients of fresh fig, Parma ham, arugula and white truffle cheese cream, while ingredients for Rafael Nadal’s pizza include tomato, moz­zarella, salted fish, olive and shrimps.

Yan said Federer’s pizza was the bestseller in the Player’s Restaurant last year, with more than 500 of them were sold in 10 days. Feder­er would order one for himself every day.

“We even organized an award ceremony for Federer in the restaurant to mark the popularity of his pizza. He won the Shang­hai Masters too, so he literally won two titles in Shanghai last year.”

Yan said about 200 cooks were working at the Rolex Shanghai Masters — some at Qizhong Tennis Center and some in the hotel. About 80 were from the hotel while the rest were temporary hires or students from cooking schools. They would start work days before the start of the tourna­ment to cater for players arriving early.

“We reach the tennis center at 8am to collect the ingredients we had ordered one day before,” Yan said. “The preparation for lunch then starts. There is no break hour since the Player’s Restaurant operates the whole day from 8:30am to 0:30am. We will usually be kept busy till 10pm. Some play­ers are scheduled with late games and will need a bite or drink after the match. The last orders are at 0:30am, but restaurant staff would sometimes have to work till 2am.”

Yan said the kitchen usually prepared food for up to 1,200 people, including players and VIP guests, per day during the tournament.

“We use organic vegetable and imported beef, mutton and seafood,” said Yan. “The food and drug administration has strict re­quirements for us, especially for the Player’s Restaurant. They check the qualification of our suppliers and health certificates of the cooks every year.”

Yan said the players are mostly young athletes who are not picky about food.

“They are actually like children and eat almost anything. But there is still a certain regularity — they prefer high-sugar food before a match. After a match, they take food with high protein. We will keep a note of what food players like and make slight adjustments every year.

“But there are also cases when some players have special requirements. Novak Djokovic takes only gluten-free food both before and after a match, which might be a requirement from his dietician, and we will surely follow the requirement.

“Rafael Nadal has the habit of ordering teppanyaki every day when he returns to the hotel after the match and can finish two kilograms of beef in one meal.”

“No matter big name or not, as long as a player has demand, we will do the best to meet it. That’s why the feedback from the players is that Shanghai provides the best service among all of the world’s tournaments regarding food, which is a recognition of our work,” said Yan.

My annual tennis date in Shanghai

When players are asked what they like most about the Rolex Shanghai Masters, voted the best ATP 1000 tournament for five straight years since its inception in 2009, many mention the food.

Player’s Restaurant chef Yan Dilie has been working at The Kunlun Jing An Hotel (former Hilton Shanghai Hotel) for 19 years, and is now its banquet chief chef. The hotel has been involved in Shanghai’s top-tier tennis tournaments since the Heineken Open. Yan started cooking for the world’s top tennis stars at the 2003 Heineken Open Shanghai and has served at the Shanghai Masters Cup and now the Rolex Shanghai Masters. As chief chef, he is in charge of the Player’s Restaurant and VIP rooms.

“Roger Federer’s favorite dish? It is actu­ally pizza,” said Yan. “But it’s not a normal pizza, but a tailored pizza.”

Yan said it’s a service the Player’s Restau­rant introduced a few years ago — players can name the ingredients they want in a pizza. The recipe would be saved and the pizza would be named after the player and put on the menu for other players to order.

“Federer’s pizza has the ingredients of fresh fig, Parma ham, arugula and white truffle cheese cream, while ingredients for Rafael Nadal’s pizza include tomato, moz­zarella, salted fish, olive and shrimps.

Yan said Federer’s pizza was the bestseller in the Player’s Restaurant last year, with more than 500 of them were sold in 10 days. Feder­er would order one for himself every day.

“We even organized an award ceremony for Federer in the restaurant to mark the popularity of his pizza. He won the Shang­hai Masters too, so he literally won two titles in Shanghai last year.”

Yan said about 200 cooks were working at the Rolex Shanghai Masters — some at Qizhong Tennis Center and some in the hotel. About 80 were from the hotel while the rest were temporary hires or students from cooking schools. They would start work days before the start of the tourna­ment to cater for players arriving early.

“We reach the tennis center at 8am to collect the ingredients we had ordered one day before,” Yan said. “The preparation for lunch then starts. There is no break hour since the Player’s Restaurant operates the whole day from 8:30am to 0:30am. We will usually be kept busy till 10pm. Some play­ers are scheduled with late games and will need a bite or drink after the match. The last orders are at 0:30am, but restaurant staff would sometimes have to work till 2am.”

Yan said the kitchen usually prepared food for up to 1,200 people, including players and VIP guests, per day during the tournament.

“We use organic vegetable and imported beef, mutton and seafood,” said Yan. “The food and drug administration has strict re­quirements for us, especially for the Player’s Restaurant. They check the qualification of our suppliers and health certificates of the cooks every year.”

Yan said the players are mostly young athletes who are not picky about food.

“They are actually like children and eat almost anything. But there is still a certain regularity — they prefer high-sugar food before a match. After a match, they take food with high protein. We will keep a note of what food players like and make slight adjustments every year.

“But there are also cases when some players have special requirements. Novak Djokovic takes only gluten-free food both before and after a match, which might be a requirement from his dietician, and we will surely follow the requirement.

“Rafael Nadal has the habit of ordering teppanyaki every day when he returns to the hotel after the match and can finish two kilograms of beef in one meal.”

“No matter big name or not, as long as a player has demand, we will do the best to meet it. That’s why the feedback from the players is that Shanghai provides the best service among all of the world’s tournaments regarding food, which is a recognition of our work,” said Yan.

Shenzhen resident Li Dongjun has never missed a single Rolex Shanghai Masters for the past 10 years. He is among the first batch of fans to have bought tickets for the nine days of competitions at this year’s tournament.

“They call me the craziest fan as I once took a return flight from Shenzhen to Shanghai in one day, covering 2,400 kilo­meters so as not to miss the matches but also managed to get back to work a night shift,” the 52-year-old said.

Li was hooked on tennis when he watched the 2005 Shanghai Masters Cup final on TVwith David Nalbandian edging Roger Federer 3-2 for the title.

“That was a very exciting match and Federer’s playing style caught my inter­est,” Li told Shanghai Daily. “I watched the final of the 2006 Shanghai Masters Cup on TVtoo when Federer beat James Blake in straight sets for his first title in Shanghai. I told myself that I have to be in Shanghai the next year to watch the match myself.”

Li bought a ticket for the final of the 2007 event and took a train from Shenzhen for the match, with Federer beating David Fer­rer in straight sets to defend his title.

“I was totally charmed by the atmosphere, including the fancy light effects, music in the venue and quality of the spectators,” said Li. “There are also tennis tournaments back in Shenzhen, but they could not match what I experienced in Shanghai. So I made up my mind that I would come to Shanghai every year.”

In 2008, Li spent 2,000 yuan (US$292) and bought a package two months in ad­vance so he could watch all the matches. Federer lost in the round-robin in the 2008 tournament which was won by Novak Djokovic. It was also the last year for Shanghai to host the ATP Finals, which were replaced by the ATP Masters 1000 tournament from 2009.

Li usually takes his annual leave in Oc­tober and books a hotel close to the venue, spending most of his time at the Qizhong Tennis Center.

“There are quite a lot to do there apart from watching matches. There are interactive games and performances. I have made friends with some die-hard fans there who are from out of Shanghai, but would come to Qizhong every year this time for the tournament. We would chat and drink at the venue, which was like a once-a-year gathering for us.”

Li’s “craziest” experience was in 2016 when he flew to Shanghai and back to Shenzhen the same day.

“I’m a civil servant, and was given short notice that I had to be on duty for a few night shifts in Shenzhen. But I had already bought tickets and hated to miss the com­petition in Shanghai. So I decided to make a return trip in one day.”

Li took a 7:15am flight from Shenzhen to Shanghai’s Hongqiao International Air­port on October 14, 2016, and flew back at 9:20pm, heading straight to work. Two days later, he flew to Shanghai again for the final.

“My family members didn’t understand me when I first started making trips to Shanghai to watch tennis,” said Li. “But with the rise of popularity of the sport, they started to support my hobby. My sister is also starting to practice tennis.”

His most memorable match was probably during the 2014 Shanghai Rolex Masters when Federer beat an in-form Gilles Simon 7-6 (6), 7-6 (2) in a hard-fought final.

“It was a year filled with surprises as he almost got eliminated in the second round when taking on Leonardo Martin Mayer,” Li said. “Federer had to save five match points before beating his opponent after the two hours and 40 minutes match, which was only his first match of that year’s tournament.

“We accompanied him all the way to the final before he saved two set points in the second set and claimed for his first ATP 1000 title in Shanghai. I couldn’t hold back my tears as I finally felt content as a dream had been realized.

“It was already after midnight when I left the tennis center. Together with some other fans, we went for barbecue and celebrated till early morning. I have to thank tennis for filling me with passion again at this age.”

Li said he would keep coming to Shang­hai for the annual tournament even after Federer retires.

“This will be my life-long hobby,” he said.