Heat forced the closure of the Rod Laver Arena roof on Saturday during Jannik Sinner’s 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 third-round victory over American world No.85 Eliot Spizzirri at the Australian Open.
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Few were expecting the 24-year-old Spizzirri, who was playing table tennis with ballkids in Garden Square on Friday, to steal the first set from his far more decorated opponent, bringing fans in the crowd to a standing ovation.
Sinner rebounded to claim the second set, to an equally receptive audience, before the mercury started to nudge 39 degrees. The Italian has suffered from cramps in the heat before and he started to limp between points, stretching out his right quad and looking to his coaches box for support.
Leading 3-1 in the third set, the momentum appeared to be shifting towards the American, with a vocal crowd continuing to show their support.
The decision came to close the roof as part of the AO heat policy, meaning a 10-minute break from play, during which Sinner took the opportunity to regain his composure off the court.
“I was alone,” Sinner said of the break. “There was no treatment, you cannot have treatment in that time. I was stretching, I laid down for five minutes and tried to loosen up the muscles, and it worked really well. I tried to get the body temperature down.
“The time passed quite fast, but it did help for sure.”
The temperature dropped with the roof fully closed and play resumed under lights, although both players appeared to take time to adjust to the changed conditions.
The third set was a grind for every game - advantage, deuce, advantage, deuce. Sinner periodically hit his right hamstring with his racquet in between plays, as cool air from the air-conditioning started to circulate.
Another 10-minute break, again due to the heat policy, offered more reprieve after the third set, which Sinner claimed 6-4.
The defending champion’s serve came to the fore in the fourth set, which he closed out to take the match. However, the encounter was closer than the scoreboard suggested and Spizzirri was spirited to the end, pushing Sinner with powerful groundstrokes from the baseline, consistent rallies, and deft speedwork at the net.
"I wouldn’t say he got saved by it," Spizzirri said afterwards. "He’s too good of a player to say that, but at the same time it was challenging timing and that’s just the nature of sport.
"You could say it’s lucky but he’s also very experienced and handled it pretty well I would say.”
The crowd acknowledged Spizzirri’s fight with enthusiastic applause, which Sinner joined in, standing to watch as the American departed the court.
“First of all, starting with him, [Spizzirri], he’s an incredible player,” Sinner said. “He played really, really well today.”
“I struggled physically a bit today,” the Italian continued. “We saw this. I got lucky with the heat rule and how they closed the roof. I took my time and as the time passed, I felt better and better and very happy about this performance.
“I started to cramp a little bit in the third set, which then after time it went slowly away,” Sinner said. “I know my body slightly better now, with a bit of experience also trying to handle certain situations better.
“Looking back in every big tournament I’ve had there were some really tough matches, so hopefully this can give me some positive for the next round.”