Not solely was Australia pressured to enter its house grand slam with out its top-ranked female and male participant, nevertheless it’s solely day three and each excessive warmth and rain have already managed to throw the match schedule fully out of whack, irritating gamers and followers.
On Wednesday, spectators swapped sunscreen and hats for umbrellas and ponchos.
A stroll round dreary Melbourne Park discovered in style areas, which had been buzzing with folks because the solar shone within the first two days, now nearly abandoned.
The rain has suspended play on out of doors courts for hours.
Upset tennis followers huddled in teams at distributors promoting sizzling drinks and meals, and underneath no matter shelter they might discover to attend out the rain.
Aussie fan favorite Thanasi Kokkinakis’ first spherical match at a packed Kia Enviornment on Tuesday was delayed because of warmth after which interrupted 5 instances by rain earlier than the decision was lastly made simply earlier than midnight to reschedule to Wednesday.
However as of 5pm Wednesday, Kia Enviornment remains to be but to carry a match.
Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Canada’s Bianca Andreescu – initially scheduled for 11am – nonetheless must hit the court docket earlier than Kokkinakis can lastly end his match towards Italy’s Fabio Fognini. The match was referred to as off with Kokkinakis main 6-1 6-2 4-2.
Aussie Max Purcell can be nonetheless ready to play his unfinished match from Tuesday on court docket seven. He’s two units to 1 down and dealing with a tie-break within the fourth to remain within the match.
Fortunately, matches on Rod Laver, Margaret Courtroom and John Cain Enviornment had been in a position to proceed by way of the warmth and rain on Tuesday and Wednesday with th roof at every closes.
The Australian Open’s excessive warmth coverage was activated about 2pm on Tuesday when the event’s warmth stress scale reached 5. Play on outdoors courts didn’t resume till 5pm after which was later disrupted by rain.
The warmth stress scale takes into consideration air temperature, the energy of the solar, humidity and wind pace.
The climate is simply one other blow for the event this yr after high Australian gamers Nick Kyrgios and Ajla Tomljanovic pulled out on the final minute.
Kyrgios pulled out instantly on Monday because of a knee damage, whereas solely two days earlier than, Tomljanovic additionally pulled out explaining she hadn’t recovered from her personal knee damage in time.
The late withdrawal of the 2 Aussies, along with Spain’s Paula Badosa, has been dubbed “the Netflix curse”.
All three gamers starred in Netflix’s new documentary collection Break Level.
The 2023 Australian Open can be lacking Ash Barty, who retired final yr and is now pregnant along with her first youngster.
Different large names who’re absent embody Naomi Osaka, who can be pregnant along with her first youngster, World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, and Venus Williams.
