Players discuss serving up a strike at open
Talk of a players’ strike swirled around Melbourne Park yesterday as the Australian Open got under way in stifling conditions.
The temperature hovered around 30 degrees Celsius but the storm clouds could be gathering over the men’s game with Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky saying players had suggested they might need to go on strike for a more equitable split in prizemoney and a revamped playing schedule.
‘‘Some of the players were suggesting that we’re not really going to play here,’’ world No 65 Stakhovsky said, referring to an ATP players’ meeting on Saturday.
‘‘[They] got quite a lot of votes for that, too. But it was just not right, because we’re here and the Australian Open would have no chance to change anything. It was enough [votes not to play]. It was more than enough.’’
Rafael Nadal also has a new injury scare – a tendon problem in his right knee that nearly forced him to forfeit a first-round match that he managed to win easily.
Roger Federer, defending champion Kim Clijsters and top-seeded Caroline Woz- niacki, also bothered by injuries coming into the tournament, all advanced to the second round and appeared as if they were over their ailments.
Nadal had his right knee heavily taped during his 6-4 6-1 6-1 win over Alex Kuznetsov. ‘‘I am really happy that today I was ready to play and I played a fantastic match.’’
Federer, who pulled out of a tournament in Doha two weeks ago with a sore back, began the quest for his 17th Grand Slam title – and first since the 2010 Australian Open – with a 7-5 6-2 6-2 win over qualifier Alexander Kudryavtsev.
It was Federer’s 60th win at the Australian Open, and he also has 60-plus wins at Wimbledon and the US Open.
He batted away speculation about a possibly divisive issue with Nadal. Nadal was critical of Federer on Sunday for not speaking out publicly in support of players who are pushing the ATP for changes in areas such as tournament scheduling and prizemoney.
‘‘Things are fine between us, you know. I have no hard feelings towards him,’’ Federer said. ‘‘It’s been a difficult last few months in terms of politics within the ATP.’’
Defending women’s champion Clijsters opened with a 7-5 6-1 win over Portuguese qualifier Maria Joao Koehler, showing no signs of the hip spasms which forced her to withdraw from a tune-up event in Brisbane 10 day ago.
Wozniacki, who injured her left wrist in a quarterfinal loss at the Sydney International, showed no signs of discomfort while easily beating Australia’s Anastasia Rodionova 6-2 6-1 in the last match of the evening on Rod Laver Arena.
Li Na, who lost the Aust- ralian final to Clijsters last year, had a 6-3 6-1 win over Ksenia Pervak of Kazakhstan. In the first featured match of the tournament, third-seeded Victoria Azarenka won 12 straight games to finish off Heather Watson 6-1 6-0 in 67 minutes in the opening match on centre court.
Li was a trailblazer for China last year, reaching a Grand Slam singles final for the first time before losing to Clijsters at Melbourne Park. At the subsequent major, she won the French Open to become the first player from China to win a Grand Slam singles title.
Of the six women who can reach the top ranking, eighthranked Agnieszka Radwanska has the biggest task, having to win the Australian title. She had a battle on her hands just to make the second round, fending off American Bethanie Mattek-sands 6-7 (10) 6-4 6-2 in a three-hour match on Show Court 2.
Other women advancing included No 16-seeded Peng Shuai of China, No 20 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, No 22 Julia Goerges, No 26 Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain and Eleni Daniilidou of Greece beat 41-year-old Kimiko Date-krumm of Japan 6-3 6-2.