40 & Over Mixed Nationals in Orlando in the path of hurricane Nicole

The last weekend of Nationals is this weekend with the 40 & Over Mixed events all being played, 7.0/8.0 in Arizona and 6.0/9.0 in Orlando.

Unfortunately, the latest on hurricane Nicole is that it is going to make landfall on the Atlantic side of Florida early Thursday morning and move inland and north pretty much right over Orlando.  The good news is it appears to be a quick moving storm so may be clearing out by Friday, but reports are that Orlando could get 2-4 or even 4-8 inches of rain, and the airport closed Wednesday afternoon.

The National Campus has already posted they were closed at 1pm Wednesday and will remain closed through 1pm Friday, but I don't know there is any guarantee they are ready to open and begin hosting a Nationals event right at that time.  If they are, perhaps they can still pull it off, perhaps with a short set format, but if they don't start Friday, would they try to fit it all in on Saturday and Sunday?

Of course, to have an event you need players, and most would have been arriving Wednesday and Thursday and it is sounding like no one will be arriving tomorrow so for anyone to be there and ready to play Friday had to have already arrived, or find a way to sneak in Friday morning.

In the grand scheme of things, this is just recreational tennis and pales in comparison to folks homes and belongings, and certainly lives that could be at risk from the hurricane.  But I will try to update this post or add others as I learn any more about plans for the weekend.

Update: It appears the plan is to use short sets and get all of the round-robin matches in on Saturday.  This will allow teams to make it there on Friday.  It isn't ideal, but is probably making the best of a tough situation.

The facility should be open Friday afternoon for check-in and courts available for practice with matches starting at 9am.  Most teams are expected to be there but perhaps some won't be able to make it.