‘Top guys’ need to speak out
MELBOURNE: Canadian player Brayden Schur has labelled alltime greats Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal ‘‘selfish’’ and more concerned about their legacies, saying it is time the pair stepped up and protested against playing conditions during Australian Open qualifying.
The world No 103, the third seed in the Open qualifying tournament, was scathing of officials after his firstround win over Austrian Sebastian Ofner, which took more than two hours in the smoky conditions that blanketed Melbourne Park yesterday.
He also said it was incumbent upon the biggest names is the sport to be the voice for lesserknown players.
‘‘It’s got to come from the top guys — Roger and Rafa are a little bit selfish in thinking about themselves and their careers,’’ Schur said.
‘‘Because they’re near the end and all they’re thinking about is their legacy and they’re not thinking about the sport itself and trying to do what’s good for the sport — so those guys need to step up.’’
Schur battled with conditions, which he described as like smoking a cigarette.
‘‘You feel super dryness in your throat,’’ he said.
‘‘That’s 100% not normal and players who have asthma are at a huge disadvantage right now.’’
Organisers delayed play by three hours yesterday but the air quality index at 1pm when the players took to court was still graded as ‘‘unhealthy’’ due to the smoke from the bushfires in Victoria.
German Dustin Brown had to call for medical treatment and was given an asthma puffer to use during his loss to qualifying top seed Dennis Novak, of Austria.
A distressed Brown did not want to talk to media postmatch.
On Tuesday Slovenian Dalila Jakupovic was forced to retire while leading her match after she collapsed to her knees with a coughing fit.
Schur said qualifiers were being treated poorly by Open organisers.
‘‘This is why the players need to unite as one and make a decision for themselves because it’s not healthy to play in,’’ he said.
‘‘You don’t see the best soccer players in the world or the best golfers — if there’s something wrong they postpone the game and in Melbourne they’re just trying to shove us on the court because we’re qualifiers.’’
World No 2 Novak Djokovic, president of the ATP Player Council, has spoken of his concern for player welfare and questioned whether the tournament start should be delayed until conditions improved.