Even though it was a serious tennis match, there was no shortage of fun and games. Croatia’s well-known radio host Luka Bulić was responsible for some of the entertaining bits during the match: at one point, he performed his latest bullhit titled Devedesete (The Nineties), thus making many of the spectators laugh out loud. The fans were also blown away by the choreography performed by the Top Stars cheerleading company from Umag, whose members thus celebrated the anniversary edition of the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag to thunderous applause. Moreover, to mark the occasion of the tournament’s 30th anniversary, countless birthday balloons were unleashed into the sky above the stadium.
Finally, the spectators were overcome with emotions seeing the footage of the first final between Ivanišević and Prpić, as it reminded them of the memorable days when professional tennis arrived in Umag. Following this first exhibition match, another replay will take place this Wednesday – this time, the 2001 Wimbledon final, when Ivanišević overcame the Australian Patrick Rafter.
The spectacular day in Umag ended with a huge concert by Tony Cetinski, who made sure everyone was well entertained by belting out his biggest hits, including Onaj tko te ljubi sretan je, Ja sam zaljubljen and Blago onom tko te ima. As promised, Cetinski threw a fantastic party for everyone at the Dance Arena, with singing and dancing late into the night.
In a spectacular exhibition march, which took place at the start of the 30th edition of the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag, Goran Prpić beat Goran Ivanišević on the same court he had defeated him back in 1990 to take the only ATP title in his career.
In a top-quality match between two tennis greats, known for their peculiar and original playing styles, Prpić defeated Ivanišević 6:4 in this single-set duel. This replay of the first ever final in Umag thus turned out to be the best possible celebration of this year’s quite significant anniversary of Croatia’s only ATP tournament. The Goran Ivanišević ATP Stadium was packed full of spectators who had come to see the match between the two Gorans, eagerly awaiting to see the outcome of the exciting match. The trophies were presented to the two players by Member of the Management Board at Plava Laguna, Damir Mendica, Director of HEP Opskrba, Mario Puntatić, and Head of the Sjeverno Primorje region at Podravka, Denis Starčević.
