Tennis Australia urged to find ‘air quality policy’

TENNIS: Tournament organisers under fire for playing in ‘unhealthy’ conditions

Poor air quality continued to affect the Australian Open yesterday with qualifying delayed for the second day in a row.

Tournament organisers came in for heavy criticism after beginning matches only an hour later than scheduled on Tuesday and playing through the day despite conditions indicating a danger to health.

Several players complained of breathing issues, with Slovenia’s Dalila Jakupovic retiring during her first-round match after collapsing on court.

Melbourne again woke up to a smoky haze from the bush fires that have devastated parts of the country and continue to burn out of control.

This time organisers pushed back the start by three hours to 1pm when, although the air quality index continued to show conditions as “unhealthy”, the sky was noticeably clearer.

The main challenge for the players was stifling heat, although that was broken by a fierce thunderstorm that hit Melbourne Park late in the afternoon and sent players scurrying for the locker rooms.

The Australian Open has a scale for determining when play should be suspended because of heat but has not announced what parameters it is working to regarding air quality.

The chief health officer for the state of Victoria, Dr Brett Sutton, called for that to change yesterday, telling local media: “Tennis Australia needs to work up an air quality policy.

“I can’t make a call on what individual thresholds might be, it really does depend on what it might mean to enclose a space and what filtration systems they might have as alternatives.

“But I think they need to consider through all those thresholds, from poor to hazardous air quality, what their alternatives might be with a view to protecting as many players as possible.”

In the lead-up to the event, tournament director Craig Tiley said strategies were being considered, including playing matches indoors, with three roofed stadia at Melbourne Park and eight indoor courts at Melbourne Park National Tennis Centre to call upon if required.

Meanwhile, players including Serena

Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer took part in a special exhibition yesterday titled “Rally for Relief”.

Organisers were expecting to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to help communities affected by the bush fire disaster and announced the sport had so far raised 4,826,014 Australian dollars – more than £2.5 million – for the cause.

Meanwhile veteran Feliciano Lopez defied his advancing years to win two three-set matches at the ASB Classic in Auckland – including downing top seed Fabio Fognini.

In a packed schedule due to a rain delay on Tuesday, Lopez beat fellow Spaniard Pablo Andujar 3-6 7-6 (4) 6-4 before returning to the court to sink Fognini 3-6 6-4 6-3.

Just as he had against Andujar, the 38-year-old rallied from a set down against the world No 12, serving 17 aces as he advanced in one hour and 58 minutes.

British No 2 Kyle Edmund booked his place in the second round when he beat Italian Andreas Seppi 6-3 7-6 (7-4).

There were also wins for John Isner, Denis Shapovalov and John Millman.