The Australian Open is perhaps the only tournament of this level where matches are rescheduled and canceled not because of rains, but because of the extremely high air temperature. A few years ago, its organizers promised to equip all courts with an automatically retractable roof, but by this year there were only two such in Australia - Rod Laver Arena and Vodafon Arena.
One of the central matches of the day between Russian Maria Sharapova and Frenchwoman Camille Pin, which lasted three hours, was never hidden under an artificial fence from the forty-degree heat and almost ended in a loss of feelings.
Ping turned out to be very prudent and from the first minutes of the game, when the sun was just starting to bake, pulled a baseball cap to her ears. Sharapova, not going to linger on the court for a long time, limited herself only to a visor. And the start of the game really turned out to be very successful for her: Maria’s most powerful blows seemed to sweep away the fragile and petite Frenchwoman from the court. If Pin managed to just hit the ball - even into the net, even out, it was already a small victory for her.
On the second set, the Frenchwoman came out more collected, and her blows markedly added power. Sharapova, in turn, slowed down and, feeling that the game was getting out of her control, began to make mistakes. Pin, playing softly, but reliably, equalized the score in the match. By the end of the second set, the arena thermometers were already showing 36 degrees in the shade, and the judge allowed the tennis players to go away for ten minutes with the air conditioners.
The dramatic third set, both participants in the match will probably be remembered for a lifetime. Although his beginning did not portend anything extraordinary: Sharapova won five games in a row without any problems and showed with her whole appearance that the match was about to end in her favor. But here, apparently, the sun's rays received by the unprotected head of the Russian woman switched from quantity to a rather unpleasant quality. Almost literally lost on the court, Sharapova gave the rival six games in a row, and she herself began to experience very disturbing things: at first Masha limped and almost fell, then she called a doctor who felt her stomach for a long time, and finally she ran her finger several times around the head, asked to bring ice bags.
Judging by the appearance of the first racket of the tournament, she generally could refuse further struggle. But, catching her breath and patting her nerves with an opponent who also looked exhausted, although she still didn’t want to lose her winning rhythm, Sharapova again went to court and pulled out a moral-volitional victory in the tie-break match - 6: 3, 4 : 6, 9: 7.
Maria’s rival in the second round will be her compatriot Anastasia Rodionova.
Andrey IVANTSOV