Australian Open
MELBOURNE, Jan 20: First came the medical timeouts, one each for Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune with the temperature above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) at the Australian Open. Then came the unusual sight of a 20-minute delay because the net at Rod Laver Arena detached from the court after being hit by a big Sinner serve.
In the end, Sinner put his physical struggles aside and emerged with the victory – as he keeps doing, no matter the site or the circumstances – and the defending champion moved into the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park on Monday by eliminating the 13th-seeded Rune 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-2.
The No.1-ranked Sinner occasionally tried to cool off by pressing a cold towel to his face or pouring water down the back of his neck. He was far better down the stretch, both after a 10-minute-plus delay in the third set when he went to the locker room for medical attention and after a 20-minute holdup in the fourth when the screw connecting the net to the blue playing surface came undone.
“I knew in my mind … I would struggle today,” Sinner said during his on-court interview, without saying what was wrong.
“Me and the doctor, we talked a little bit. It helped me.” He has won 18 consecutive tour-level matches, dating to late 2024. Last season, Sinner went 73-6 with eight titles, the first man with that many tournament championships in a single year since Andy Murray in 2016.
That haul included Sinner’s first two Grand Slam trophies, at the Australian Open in January and the US Open in September, the latter shortly after he was exonerated for testing positive for an anabolic steroid twice in March. His case is still unresolved, though, with a hearing scheduled for April in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s appeal of the ruling.
Rune, a 21-year-old from Denmark, was trying to get to the quarterfinals in Melbourne for the first time.
Sinner will face No. 8 Alex de Minaur of Australia or unseeded Alex Michelsen of the US for a berth in the semifinals.A second Italian joined Sinner in the quarterfinals when 55th-ranked Lorenzo Sonego got that far at a major tournament for the first time by ending the run of American qualifier Learner Tien 6-2 6-3 3-6 6-1. Sonego will now face No. 21 Ben Shelton of the US or Gael Monfils of France.
DJOKOVIC GETS HIS APOLOGIES
Novak Djokovic got the mea culpas he wanted from the Australian Open’s local broadcaster and its employee who insulted him on the air and so, according to tournament organizers, the 24-time Grand Slam champion is ready to concentrate on his quarterfinal showdown with Carlos Alcaraz.
“Novak acknowledges the apology has been given in public as requested,” read a statement issued Monday by Tennis Australia, “and is now moving on and focusing on his next match.” That, perhaps, will draw a curtain on the bizarre off-court distraction as Djokovic pursues what would be an 11th championship at Melbourne Park and a record 25th major trophy overall.
After winning at Rod Laver Arena on Sunday evening to set up the contest against No. 3 Alcaraz, Djokovic declined to do the customary post-match on court TV interview, but didn’t immediately say why, eliciting some jeering from spectators. Only later that night, at his news conference, did Djokovic explain that he was taking a stand to protest comments made by Tony Jones on Channel 9 on Friday.
Djokovic, a 37-year-old from Serbia, did not name Jones, but said a “famous sports journalist who works for official broadcaster Channel 9 … made a mockery of Serbian fans and also made insulting and offensive comments toward me.” Jones called Djokovic overrated and a has-been and made what seemed to be a reference to when the player was deported from Australia in 2022 because he was not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Djokovic added that he would continue to avoid speaking to the network without an apology from it and Jones. (PTI)