{"id":440976,"date":"2026-01-27T15:45:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T15:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/440976\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T15:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T15:45:10","slug":"crazy-heat-sends-players-fans-scurrying-at-ao","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/440976\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Crazy heat’ sends players, fans scurrying at AO"},"content":{"rendered":"

A blistering heatwave has wrought havoc on the Australian Open for a second time this tournament as big guns battled for semi-final spots under a closed roof.<\/p>\n

Organisers suspended play on all outside courts at Melbourne Park just before 1.30pm on Tuesday after determining conditions had reached level five on the Open’s heat stress scale.<\/p>\n

The roofs of Rod Laver and Margaret Court arenas were closed so some singles and doubles action could continue.<\/p>\n

\"Spectators.\"<\/p>\n

Spectators sought shelter as temps sweltered at Melbvourne Park. (Joel Carrett\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Play on outside courts did not resume until after 7.30pm and the roof at Rod Laver Arena was finally opened partially after Elina Svitolina’s 6-1 6-2 demolition of out-of-sorts American Coco Gauff.<\/p>\n

Melbourne came close to its hottest day on record of 46.4C in 2009, hitting a maximum of 42.7C after a forecast top of 45C.<\/p>\n

By 9pm, the mercury had dropped to 29C as a long-awaited cool change swept through the city.<\/p>\n

The usually-busy Garden Square and eateries were almost deserted as temperature in the precinct hit 40C at 2.30pm.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

No.1 Fan: Melbourne’s searing heat forced spectators to find relief where they could. (Joel Carrett\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Despite the heat, 21,226 spectators came through the gates for the sweltering day session after record crowds earlier in the tournament.<\/p>\n

Many patrons used misting fans to cool down and sought shelter at Margaret Court Arena, with ground pass holders granted access to the ticketed venue.<\/p>\n

An 11.30am start on Rod Laver Arena allowed women’s world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka and Iva Jovic’s quarter-final to take place with the roof open.<\/p>\n

With the heat index passing four in the second set, players would have been allowed a 10-minute cooling break between sets.<\/p>\n

But it wasn’t needed as Sabalenka swept aside the wilting American 6-0 6-3 in less than 90 minutes.<\/p>\n

The roof was closed about 1.15pm during the four-time major champion’s on-court interview.<\/p>\n

Sabalenka was grateful the roof was not fully open throughout the encounter so she could seek refuge in the shade between points.<\/p>\n

“I knew going into this match that they won’t let us play on crazy heat,” she told reporters.<\/p>\n

German third seed Alexander Zverev’s 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 7-6 (7-3) quarter-final win over American Learner Tien was played indoors throughout.<\/p>\n

It played right into the big-serving German’s hands as he banged down a whopping 24 aces and 56 winners.<\/p>\n

\"Alexander<\/p>\n

The closed roof arrived right on time for Alexander Zverev as he beat Learner Tien in four sets. (James Ross\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“With the roof on, it’s perfect conditions,” Zverev said.<\/p>\n

“It’s a very solid 24C with AC on … I would love to play with the roof every single match.”<\/p>\n

The Heat Stress Scale (HSS) was first implemented at the Australian Open in 2019 amid concerns over player and spectator safety.<\/p>\n

Four climate factors – air temperature, radiant heat, humidity and wind speed – are measured from various locations at Melbourne Park to determine the HSS measure.<\/p>\n

Officials on Monday pre-emptively confirmed a series of measures to combat the heat, including more frequent rotations for ballkids, increased recovery times and additional relief squads.<\/p>\n

The start of the wheelchair championships was postponed to Wednesday, when Melbourne is forecast for a much cooler top of 24C.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A blistering heatwave has wrought havoc on the Australian Open for a second time this tournament as big…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,182970,188599,3566,221809,85,747],"class_list":["post-440976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-margaret-court","tag-melbourne-park","tag-rod-laver","tag-rod-laver-arena","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}