PLAYERS FUME AT SMOKE
Aussie Open qualifiers fear for health as they’re urged to stay on court in toxic air from bushfires
AS smoke from bushfires blanketed the start of australian Open qualifying, organisers came under heavy criticism from players forced to brave brutal conditions.
Slovenian Dalila Jakupovic collapsed and had to abandon her match when she could take no more, despite being close to victory against No 11 seed Stefanie Vogele when the first round of the qualifying event got underway yesterday.
While she described herself as ‘sad and angry’ after recovering, Britain’s Liam Broady and Jay clarke told of their struggles to cope with lungfuls of toxic air combined with stifling heat.
clarke, the British No 5 from Derby, revealed he had been told to prepare to play indoors, but that air vents were letting in too much smoke to make it feasible. a ballgirl was taken off with heat exhaustion during clarke’s three-set defeat by Blaz kavcic, another Slovenian.
With the wind creating a smoky haze derived from the massive blazes in eastern Victoria, Jakupovic took an inhaler on to the court to help but to no avail.
The first day’s play went ahead after an hour’s delay, despite locals being advised to stay indoors if possible and horse racing meetings being called off at nearby Werribee. construction workers in the city were told to down tools for the day.
Tennis australia insisted their on-site experts had declared the playing environment safe at Melbourne Park, and that it had liaised with representatives of the men’s and women’s tours.
Jakupovic was unimpressed, saying: ‘It was really bad. I never experienced something like this and I was really scared. I was scared that I would collapse.
‘That’s why I went on the floor, because I couldn’t walk any more. I’ve never had asthma before.
‘It was not fair because it’s not healthy. I thought we wouldn’t be playing today. We don’t have much choice. If we don’t go on the court, maybe we get fined. It would maybe have been better to wait to see if tomorrow is better. They still have time. There’s no rush.’
Broady went down 6-3, 6-0 to Ilya Ivashka of Belarus and also suffered in conditions that featured smoggy air and heat well into the thirties.
‘I’d like to think I’m properly fit and after four games I was absolutely gassed,’ said the British No 6. ‘at 6-3, 3-0 down, when you’re supposed to be relatively fresh, I was bent double and gasping for air. My fitness is one of the best parts of my game but I definitely didn’t feel great.
‘I was surprised by how bad it was when I was walking out to the court. I had been inside from ten o’clock for three hours and, because they had decided to go ahead, I thought it would have cleared up a lot. You can hardly see the buildings over there.’
he was not alone in thinking that top players may well not have been asked to play.
‘I don’t think qualifiers are treated the same way as the main draw players,’ he added. ‘Maybe we have to earn the right to be treated like the main draw players but we are all human beings.’
australia’s Bernard Tomic lost to american Denis kudla and questioned the umpire during his defeat. ‘No air’s going in, I’m getting tired so easy,’ Tomic told the trainer and doctor during a medical timeout. ‘I just can’t breathe.’
In what is a potential blow to the event given the scale of the fires, clarke suggested that Tennis australia’s previous throwback position of moving matches inside to avoid the worst of the conditions was futile.
‘There was talk of it moving indoors but we actually went over to the National Tennis centre and it was worse,’ he said. ‘They have got permanent vents open, so when the smoke got in it wasn’t able to get out, so no players were practising indoors.’
at 9am, Victoria’s environmental Protection authority had advised Melburnians to ‘try to stay indoors, keep windows and doors shut, and keep pets inside’.
‘This is new for all of us,’ said Tennis australia chief executive craig Tiley, who was evasive on whether or not on-court officials should be issued with face masks.
ReIgNINg Wimbledon doubles champion Robert Farah has tested positive for a banned steroid, having pulled out of the australian Open yesterday for ‘personal reasons’.
The colombian, 32, who is world doubles No 1, claimed he may have failed the test after eating contaminated meat.