Unseen menace: 'Virtual kidnapping' shuts down Mexico's J30 tennis event

The Mexican Tennis Federation has announced the cancellation of an event because of the players and coaching staff’s ‘virtual kidnapping’. The J30 tournament, which is the lowest-ranked tournament under the umbrella of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) was set to be organised in the city of Irapuato.

However, as per the report, the competition was cancelled because of the ‘virtual kidnapping’ of as many as 10 players and coaching staff. The ‘virtual kidnapping’ is referred to a term which is used to trick individuals into believing that their loved ones are threatened.

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The federation revealed that all the players and the coaching staff have returned to their homes. The competition marked another difficult year in Mexican tennis. Earlier, tennis courts in the country were affected by Hurricane John and subsequently because of flooding.

Following that hurricane, the GNP arena, which is used for ATP 500 event, was left flooded, and the infrastructure was badly affected. Earlier this year, the Acapulco ATP 500 event was nearly cancelled because of another hurricane. That mega-storm, which came in the last months of 2022, left as many as 52 dead.

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Australia’s Alex de Minaur ended up winning the title this year. After securing the title, where the world number 10 defeated the three-time Grand Slam runner-up Norway’s Casper Ruud in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-4, stated that the city is becoming his second him.

“Acapulco is becoming like a second home,” said De Minaur right after the match. “I thought that it was impossible to feel better after what happened last year, but I came back a year later to defend the title and it has been a true pleasure. We wanted to bring some joy to this wonderful city. And I'm sure that Acapulco will shine stronger than ever.”