Eliot Spizziri was on the verge of one of the biggest boilovers in Australian Open history, as he led 3-1, 1 set all over Jannik Sinner on Rod Laver Arena.
A Jannik Sinner who could barely walk. Could barely hold a racket. Could barely muster the energy to get the ball over the net. A Jannik Sinner about to go into full body cramps on a 40C day in Melbourne.
But then, divine intervention in the form of a heat rule, meaning, in lamens terms, it’s too hot, so the roof needs to be closed.
This allowed Sinner the chance to have a vital 15-20 minutes off the court. While he said in his press conference that he wasn’t receiving any treatment during that time, it was enough for him to compose himself, and wrestle the momentum away from Spizzirri. Sinner would go on to win the match in 4 sets.
For Spizzirri, he wasn’t quite willing to say Sinner was lucky, but everyone watching on, knew exactly how unfortunate the timing was for the American, and how lucky it was for Sinner.
“You could say it’s lucky, but he’s also very experienced and handled it, you know, pretty well, I would say.
I don’t know if he got saved by it. I smiled a little bit when the heat rule went into effect, just because it was kind of funny timing as I went up 3-1, but at the same time, the game at 2-1 in the third set was when the heat, when it hit, I think it’s 5.0, which means that the heat rule is in effect.
So whenever that game was over, whether I broke or whether he held, we were going to close the roof. It was just funny that right when I broke and he was wobbling, that it happened to happen that way. But at the same time, that’s the rules of the game, and you got to live with it.”
For Spizzirri, the forecast heat wasn’t an issue for him, as he knew the days and weeks he’d spent in pre-season were going to put him in a position where his body would withstand the extreme conditions.
I tried to relish that and look at it more as an opportunity to showcase my physicality and see if I could outlast him.
Even during the break in play, when the heat became too hot to play in open conditions, Spizzirri wasn’t feeling any negative effects.
“I felt good, yeah. I was talking to a couple of people in the locker room that I did my preseason with, and this heat’s nothing compared to what we deal with in Florida and what I went and trained in in Austin, even New York in the summers with the humidity.
It’s pretty dry heat here, so this — I played a match in China last year. I think it was 123 on-court temp. I don’t think it was even ballpark close to that today. So, yeah, I felt pretty fresh, to be honest, and felt like I could have gone a lot longer.”
But unfortunately for Spizzirri, it wasn’t to be. However, he leaves Australia with a renewed confidence in his ability to match it with the best in the world.
It was a good tournament for me. My first time getting directly into a Grand Slam, so my first time having weeks to prepare for three-out-of-five sets and had a preseason to do it.
So I think the thing I’m most happy with is the fact that my body held up for two gruelling matches and then this one as well, so three.
It definitely gives me some confidence to keep going. I have some areas that I definitely need to work on, I think, and maybe that were a little bit exposed [today]. I knew that coming in.”
One thing is for certain though. Spizzirri will have a new high ranking. He came into the tournament at 84, and currently sits at a live ranking of 71.
You get the feeling that the top 50 isn’t too far away for him, and who knows what follows.
Read more of our news articles here.
Read more of our exclusive feature articles here.
Follow The Tennis Site on Facebook and X: @thetennissite
Follow Todd Scoullar on X: @toddscoullar
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.