By Ian Ransom
MELBOURNE, Jan 24 (Reuters) – Players wilted on court and fans huddled in shade as extreme heat hit the Australian Open on Saturday, halting outdoor matches as Melbourne Park roasted under an unforgiving sun.
Hot weather is a feature of the year’s first Grand Slam but the stifling conditions discouraged thousands of would-be fans from attending on a day that usually packs in the crowds.
Organisers invoked the tournament’s extreme heat policy early in the afternoon, bringing an immediate suspension to matches on the outer courts. Scheduled restart times were pushed back repeatedly as conditions remained stubbornly uncomfortable through the afternoon.
The main showcourts resumed play after a brief break to allow the roofs to shut.
Jannik Sinner was especially thankful to be playing at Rod Laver Arena, where the defending champion suffered bad cramp in his four-set win over plucky American Eliot Spizzirri.
The Italian admitted that the roof closure had helped him live to fight another day.
“Got lucky today,” the four-times Grand Slam champion said.
“It changed a bit also the way of how to play certain points. That helped me today, for sure.”
The Australian Open operates under an extreme heat policy that considers air temperature, radiant heat, wind speed and humidity to assess playing conditions, allowing officials to delay or suspend matches when thresholds are exceeded.
The tournament’s “Heat Stress Scale” hit five, its highest threshold, early in the day and did not budge through the afternoon.
EARLY START
Play had started an hour earlier to take advantage of the relative cool of the morning but conditions were already stifling as women’s defending champion Madison Keys started her third-round match just after 10:30 a.m. (2330 GMT).
American Keys needed only 75 minutes to beat Karolina Pliskova while her Florida-based compatriots Jessica Pegula and Amanda Anisimova all moved on to the next round.
“I didn’t have to kind of kill myself today,” said Pegula after her quick-fire 6-3 6-2 win over Oksana Selekhmeteva.
Ironically, men’s fifth seed Lorenzo Musetti found playing indoors its own challenge after the John Cain Arena roof closed during his five-set slog to beat Czech Tomas Machac.
“With air conditioning, that was really, really, I don’t want to say extreme, but was kind of getting extreme,” said the Italian.
Organisers warned fans to bring hats, drink plenty of water and make use of misting fans scattered around Melbourne Park.
Sydney resident Sarah Gellatly covered herself in sunscreen from one of the dispensers just outside the Melbourne Park gates.
She said players would be concerned about battling each other during the hottest part of the day.
“It’s really hot but if you’re a player that’s touring around the world every day, then they’re used to the heat,” she told Reuters.
Sydney-based Londoner Ingrid Christie brought a handheld, battery-powered fan but it was of little help.
“It’s blowing warm air so it’s not that effective,” she said, holding up the yellow device.
“We came from Sydney and we expected it. But it is a little too hot. We haven’t been able to sit through a full game yet.”
Plenty of would-be fans simply stayed away.
The day session attendance of 51,048 was some 10,000 short of day six on Friday and even less than last year’s corresponding session.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne, Additional reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
