Eliot Spizziri believes that the controversial implementation of the heat rule during his Australian Open match against Jannik Sinner was ‘funny timing’, but that it adhered to the rules.
The American found himself possessing a surprising scoring advantage during his third-round match against the world No 2, leading 3-1 in the third set after splitting the first two sets.
Even more importantly, Sinner was being severely limited by cramp which had worked its way up from his calf to the rest of his body.
The two-time defending champion’s physical state was diminished due to the 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) temperature on Rod Laver Arena.
As a result, the tournament’s ‘heat rule’ was put into effect after reaching the maximum level of five.
That scale is influenced by four key factors – strength of the sun, air temperature in the shade, relative humidity and wind speed – which, when peaked, lead to play being suspended.
For those on the show courts, play is only suspended for as long as it takes for the roof to be closed, with air conditioning providing additional comfort to both players.
For the clash between Sinner and Spizzirri, the disruption led to a 10-minute stoppage.
“Yeah, I don’t know if he got saved by it,” remarked the American.
“You know, I smiled a little bit when the heat rule went into effect, just because it was kind of funny timing as I went up 3-1.
“But at the same time, you know, the game at 2-1 in the third set was when the heat, when it hit, I think it’s 5.0, which means that the heat rule is in effect.
“So whenever that game was over, whether I broke or whether he held, we were going to close the roof.
“It was just funny that right when I broke and he was wobbling, that it happened to happen that way.”
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Sinner recovered well from the suspension of play, breaking back straight away to win four of the final five games of the set to claim it 6-4.
Spizzirri was unable to recapture the sensational form which he had produced in the first half of the match, although he was aided by the cramps somewhat returning to the Italian in the fourth set.
The American broke for 3-1, but was broken back immediately after the world No 2 struck down multiple kamikaze winners, before taking the final set 6-4.
“That’s the rules of the game, and, you know, you got to live with it,” added Spizzirri.
“If I had won that third set, we were going to have a ten-minute break anyways because of how hot it was, even if the roof didn’t close. So who knows?
“We’ve seen him do this before where there’s an extended break, and he gathers himself and comes out and figures it out.
“I think he did it against maybe Holger Rune one time, if I’m not mistaken, at this tournament.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t say, like, he got saved by it.
“He’s too good of a player to say that, but at the same time, you know, it was, you know, challenging timing, and that’s just the nature of the sport.
“You could say that. I don’t know (smiling). You could say it’s lucky, but he’s also very experienced and handled it, you know, pretty well, I would say.”
As Spizzirri mentioned, cramps are not novel to Sinner, having struggled against Rune in a fourth-round clash at last year’s edition of the Melbourne tournament.
Additionally, the Italian was forced to retire against Tallon Griekspoor in the third set of the Beijing Open last season – again, due to cramps.
Nonetheless, Sinner will now have 48 hours of rest before facing compatriot Luciano Darderi, who triumphed over No 15 seed Karen Khachanov.
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