Tennis legend John McEnroe has made the controversial claim that Jannik Sinner benefitted from “favouritism” from Australian Open organisers in his win against Elliot Spizzirri.
Sinner‘s bid to secure a third successive Australian Open title looked in serious jeopardy midway through his 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 third round victory over world No 85 Spizzirri.
Temperatures soared as high as 39 degrees Celsius during the contest on Rod Laver Arena, and Sinner was suffering with fully body cramps and trailing 1-3 in the third set when the match was stopped due to the Australian Open’s extreme heat policy.
Play was suspended for around 10 minutes to allow the roof to be closed, which helped the on-court temperature drop considerably.
Sinner’s physical condition improved following the stoppage and he broke back immediately after play resumed before crucially taking the third set. The Italian then came back from 1-3 down again to win the fourth set.
McEnroe, who was commentating on the match for ESPN, made his feelings clear on play being stopped at a time when Sinner was in trouble.
“I don’t think anyone wants to see that in our sport. I get it, it looks like there’s favouritism,” the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion said.
“But if the shoe was on the other foot with Spizzirri, I’d like to hope that they would pull the plug also… I don’t know if they would have.”
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Speaking on Tennis Channel, 18-time major singles champion Martina Navratilova questioned the Australian Open’s heat policy.
“You know in the middle of the match they’re gonna close the roof, so when they know there’s rain coming they’ll close the roof pre-emptively, but they don’t do it for heat. That doesn’t make any sense,” said the tennis icon.
“The timing was horrible for Spizzirri, but they should have just kept the roof closed from the start.”
Sinner followed his victory against Spizzirri by downing fellow Italian and 22nd seed Luciano Darderi 6-1, 6-3, 7-6(2) in the fourth round on Monday. He will face Ben Shelton in the quarter-finals.
What is the Australian Open’s extreme heat policy?
The Australian Open’s Heat Stress Scale — which measures playing conditions from 1 to 5 — dictates that play is suspended if the scale reaches 5 — which happened when Sinner was trailing 1-3 in the third set against Spizzirri.
Here is what the Australian Open website says about the scale: “The Heat Stress Scale will be used to measure four climate factors – radiant heat (strength of the sun), air temperature in the shade, relative humidity and wind speed.
“These will be measured at five positions around the precinct, including on court in Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena and Melbourne Arena. The scale starts at (1) for temperate playing conditions and escalates to (5) – suspension of play.
“Under the EHP, the Tournament Referee will allow a 10-minute break between the second and third sets in both women’s and junior singles matches and a 15-minute break in wheelchair singles matches when a four (4.0) is recorded on the AO HSS prior to or during the first two sets of the match.
“In the men’s singles, a 10-minute break will be allowed after the third set when a four (4.0) is recorded on the AO HSS prior to or during the first three sets of the match.
“If a five (5.0) is recorded on the AO HSS, the Tournament Referee can suspend the start of matches on outside courts and all matches in progress continuing until the end of an even number of games in that set or completion of the tie break before play will be suspended.
“Matches on Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena and Melbourne Arena will stop after an even number of games in that set or completion of the tie-break when the Tournament Referee can decide to close the roof for the remainder of the match and the following matches when the EHP is still in effect.”
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