{"id":393779,"date":"2026-01-27T20:58:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T20:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/393779\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T20:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T20:58:13","slug":"scorching-43c-heat-keeps-50000-fans-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/393779\/","title":{"rendered":"scorching 43C heat keeps 50,000 fans away"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melbourne Park became a ghost town on Tuesday as scorching 43C heat meant tens of thousands of tennis fans stayed at home while bushfires ravaged rural areas in the state of Victoria.<\/p>\n

Having hosted on average 95,592 visitors per day this year \u2014 including four days on which more than 100,000 people came through the gates \u2014 only 43,750 attended the first day of quarter-final action at the Australian Open. <\/p>\n

Singles matches began at 11.43am with temperatures at 33C before it climbed to 42.7C at 4pm and remained as high as 39C until 9pm. Rod Laver Arena, where the four men\u2019s and women\u2019s last-eight matches were played, was at full capacity, but the rest of the grounds, usually home to live music, games and vibrant bars, were deserted. With temperatures set to drop to 24C, the A$39 (about \u00a320) grounds pass ticket is likely to prove popular once again on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

\"Colorful<\/p>\n

Melbourne Park was eerily quiet as fans stayed home to keep out of the sun<\/p>\n

WILLIS BENNETT<\/p>\n

Areas in the northwest of the state reached 48.9C \u2014 the highest temperature on record \u2014 and out-of-control bushfires destroyed properties in the Otways, 100 miles west of Melbourne.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is 1pm and I have served two or three people, I have sold about ten Lemon Aces,\u201d said a member of bar staff named Vishesh. \u201cWhenever it is too hot, people are not willing to come outside. Locals are not willing to come out. No one wants to faint, get skin burn.\u201d A smoke-haze warning was given in the evening and the UV index peaked at 12, which is \u201cextreme\u201d.<\/p>\n

Despite the world No6 and home favourite Alex de Minaur facing Carlos Alcaraz<\/a>, it was the Australian Open<\/a>\u2019s Extreme Heat Protocols that were dominating conversation. The Heat Stress Scale, which was implemented in 2019 to ensure fair and consistent playing conditions, ranges from one to five, with cooling interventions in place at each threshold. Four climate factors \u2014 air temperature, radiant heat, humidity and wind speed \u2014 are measured from a variety of locations at Melbourne Park.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration<\/p>\n

The heat stress scale reached level five in the early afternoon<\/p>\n

WILLIS BENNETT<\/p>\n

Level five was first reached at 1.30pm, resulting in a suspension in play on all courts. Action resumed on Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena once the roofs had closed. Play did not resume on any outside courts until 7.30pm, when temperatures dropped below 40C. By contrast, at Wimbledon, a ten-minute break is permitted when the temperature reaches 30.1C<\/p>\n

When Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> and Iva Jovic began the day\u2019s quarter-final schedule, the scale read 2.5. When they had finished, 89 minutes later, it was 40.6C and, with the scale at 4.6, the suspension of play was imminent. Alexander Zverev\u2019s victory against Learner Tien began under the roof on Rod Laver Arena.<\/p>\n

The five levels of the Heat Stress Scale1. Temperate playing conditions2. Increase hydration (reached at 10.30am)3. Apply cooling strategies (12.14pm)4. A ten-minute break for players; they can stay on court or use a designated cooling room or shower (12.50pm)5. Suspension of play; show court roofs are closed (1.30pm)<\/p>\n

Australian Open organisers confirmed the previous day that temperature-forced changes would be in place. The gates opened early at 9am, while action on Margaret Court Arena was opened to grounds pass holders. The Wheelchair Championships were postponed for 24 hours, while ballboys and girls had reduced rotations, increased recovery times and were given access to unlimited fruit, water and icy poles loaded with electrolytes.<\/p>\n

John Cain Arena, one of the three show courts with a roof, became a rescue shelter; the second-largest stadium housed no tennis, but its air-conditioned concourse was sought after. At 2pm, Shake Shack \u2014 making its debut in Australia with two pop-ups \u2014 had a longer queue than Rod Laver Arena, and staff members were being briefed before a potential resumption late in the day. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Shake Shack makes hay while the sun shines as play was suspended in the afternoon<\/p>\n

WILLIS BENNETT<\/p>\n

\u201cTake your time. Sit in the air-con. And tonight, be patient, take it slow. And remember the sunscreen,\u201d the meeting\u2019s leader said. Corienne, a member of staff born in Enfield, north London, but living in Brisbane, had been on John Cain Arena on Saturday too, when it was about 38C. \u201cSaturday I was in the sun, helping with tickets. Today I\u2019m here. It\u2019s too cold to be honest, I didn\u2019t bring my jacket,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Rob, a local lad, had the right idea: he was sitting in a deckchair in the shade with a refrigerated apple. \u201cI\u2019ve got the best spot in the grounds,\u201d he said. Having clocked my accent he informed me: \u201cI\u2019ve done plenty of walking in the UK. I did the coast-to-coast hike; from Cumbria to Robin Hood\u2019s Bay in Yorkshire. But sitting in this [pointing to the sun] is something different.\u201d <\/p>\n

Even the most popular fan-game on the grounds was empty. Rally Alley, where a punter is tasked with volleying tennis balls into odd-shaped holes to score points and win prizes, usually opens at 9am and has about 70 players per hour until the grounds close after 10pm. \u201cThe line every day has been ridiculous. But no line today,\u201d Amelia said. \u201cIt\u2019s empty. It\u2019s kind of scary.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melbourne Park became a ghost town on Tuesday as scorching 43C heat meant tens of thousands of tennis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-393779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}