Slovenia player Jakupovic retired playing Aus Open qualies due to "breathing difficulties"
- Thread starter BrokenForehand
- Start date
gogo
Legend
Not sure what this has got to do with politicians or Greta? It's a simple matter of air quality during the tournament. (But you sound like you are trying to make it political.)
Tennis_Hands
Banned
TheGhostOfAgassi
Talk Tennis Guru
I know.
But Rafa is practicing extremely intense though. He will have a good sense after an hour how it is there.
gogo
Legend
Doesn't everyone practice extremely intensely? To Bartleby's point, Rafa can walk off the practice court whenever he wants. The qualifying players can't (without guaranteeing that they will lose money after travel costs and on a slim budget). Should these players have to wait until one of the three 'Gods' show up and decide to complain, even when they aren't dealing with the same level of challenge? Sorry Ghost, I'm not meaning to challenge you, I'm just thinking about the gulf between the very privileged players and the rest of them.
Bartelby
Bionic Poster
They do, indeed, as the RSPCA is not an organisation that you want to cross.
Apparently horses have better representation as workers than the tennis players.
TheGhostOfAgassi
Talk Tennis Guru
Rafa is known for practicing very intense, as if it’s a match. But of course he is not the only one to form an opinion after practice!
Don’t you think these main draw players are also worried about the air quality? I do. And I think they can feel if it’s healthy or not after 1-2 hours of practice.
gogo
Legend
And Rafa can step off the court with no financial repurcussion (and he isn't even reliant on the pay). The people that are playing qualifying can't. The qualifying is already underway. Why should they have to wait for Rafa?
TheGhostOfAgassi
Talk Tennis Guru
I never said they have to wait for Rafa.
They all play under same conditions.
gogo
Legend
But Rafa (and the other top guys) isn't playing under the same conditions. He doesn't have any matches this week.
TheGhostOfAgassi
Talk Tennis Guru
What do you want me to say?
I have no idea what’s going on and who is talking to who of the players. The air quality is probably something they all talk about. And it’s not only qualifiers being there now. I bet a lot more will be said about this from the players, also from the qualifiers. Haven’t they just started? It takes probably some days before they have collected enough evidence/opinions about this before there will be a statement.
gogo
Legend
Sorry, I probably didn't make my point clearly. My point is that the qualifiers have to play (yesterday and today), or else they default. Rafa doesn't have to default. He can just walk off the practice court, with no economic repurcussions. The qualifiers don't 'have days' to find out after the fact that it isn't safe. The tournament organizers should determine whether it is safe to play or not. Unfortunately they have a conflict....ticket sales. So they are motivated to keep the qualifying tournament going on schedule, whether the players are suffering or not. Too much conflict of interest.
jon70
Semi-Pro
The air quality is a result of bushfires, a highly political topic in Aus atm.
You're right in that it should just be a matter of air quality, although it wouldn't surprise me if Tennis Australia took a political stance...which in this case would be interesting.
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
They should really do something. Hell yeah im ready for the AO but this is an extreme situation that they need to figure out player safety for first.
Bartelby
Bionic Poster
If they don't postpone matches they are taking a political stance, just not a progressive one.
'She'll be right mate' is their political attitude to climate change's effect on the tournament.
'She'll be right mate' is their political attitude to climate change's effect on the tournament.
Mike Sams
G.O.A.T.
There's too much money involved. The AO is huge for the economy over there. They can't afford to stop it. Players unfortunately will have to die if need be but the event must go on...
Mike Sams
G.O.A.T.
Some person just said that Nadal will be very happy with the bushfire smoke because it means he has a better chance to beat Djokovic!
TheGhostOfAgassi
Talk Tennis Guru
Hahahaha I think I know whoSome person just said that Nadal will be very happy with the bushfire smoke because it means he has a better chance to beat Djokovic!
myrinda gomez
New User
Hope you and your family/friends are staying safe
MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
Fr it sounds crazy. I expect more stuff to go down during qualies
jon70
Semi-Pro
Tiley said the measurements were within guidelines...at least that's what I heard on the news. Of course there are probably differing opinions on what the guidelines are. They probably just need one expert to say 'playable.'
TA are in a tight spot. They want people through the door, but I bet behind the scenes there's someone aching to put the blame on the government for the air so TA can be seen as a green, progressive tournament.
gogo
Legend
Hopefully the air quality will improve, and the issue will go away for the players. But the general issue of a conflict of interest for the tournament organizers remains. They've dealt with it for extreme heat (sometimes poorly) and now they dealt with it poorly for air quality. I'm not singling out the AO organizers as I think all major tournament organizers would be equally as conflicted. That's why they need an independent body to determine if conditions are reasonable for the players.
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Thanks. I’m down here working the tournament so my family are back in Brisbane but yeah it’s surreal. Was on the train yesterday and someone had to call an ambulance for a woman as she was struggling to breathe due to the air. It’s unbelievable.
soundofatrain
Rookie
It’s all bread and circus my friend
Easy Rider
Professional
They postponed matches yesterday (1 hour) and today (for 3 hours) ... it is smoky, cant breath properly plus every other person is light headed ... it rains now, could be for the better
Apparently horses have better representation as workers than the tennis players.
Horses are expensive "toys".
If you want to buy a good horse, the price tag is already huge.
And on top you need to factor all the expenses related to take care + eventually to train the horse.
So, not surprised that reach people that can afford to invest into horses actually take care about their investments.
I think that's not the point of the discussion.
Rafa will start playing main draw later.
What if this week is not suitable for playing?
Shall the qualies hope that one of the Big 3 actually talks? What if the Big 3 don't want to upset AO organizers, ATP / ITF?
roughly 200 top professionals in men tennis and another 200 top professionals in women tennis shouldn't be at the mercy of AO organizers and Big 3.
what if conditions are not suitable?
but if they don'w win the match, they won't advance, so they won't earn higher prize money.
and doctor's note won't help you get higher prize money.
Easy Rider
Professional
Co
Players getting tired quickly
After 15/20 minutes of warm up, my vision wasnt crystal clear ... blurred actually
Ppl dont get this serious, MD players gonna start from Monday so ...
conditions are not suitable.
Players getting tired quickly
After 15/20 minutes of warm up, my vision wasnt crystal clear ... blurred actually
Ppl dont get this serious, MD players gonna start from Monday so ...
Mike Sams
G.O.A.T.
Is it worth dying for? They could risk long term if not permanent health issues.
what if your only skill in life is hitting the tennis ball?
Mike Sams
G.O.A.T.
Tennis_Hands
Banned
I was at a horse dressur in a private location some years ago, which was also a chance for some trade to happen. An arab sheikh brought his stable, amongst which was a horse with a rumoured price of 40 mil dollars (or at least that is what was said he was offered for the animal). It was a beautiful animal though.
McDonald's is always hiring.
I'll simply ignore this post.
mbm0912
Hall of Fame
didn't know he was still alive
Mike Sams
G.O.A.T.
If only Superman was around to do what he did in Superman 3 when he froze over Lake Camooga and then dropped the frozen sheet over the fires!
mbm0912
Hall of Fame
fedfan08
Professional
Was there more than one player that had to stop playing? I keep seeing footage of the same person. This is complicated because you don’t know when things will improve. And it’s not like they can just postpone the tournament. The only thing they could do is cancel for this year. But what if rain comes and the air quality improves? The good thing is this tournament has a number of courts with roofs so they can try and get as many matches played on a court with a roof as possible (if necessary).
ok, how many qualification matches are being played indoor?
P.S.
beyond this case, Bouchard complained on conditions for qualies.
Sharapova exhibition match was stopped before finished because there was too much smoke.
TheGhostOfAgassi
Talk Tennis Guru
What has all this got to do with my post?
well...
1. discussion was about let qualies being played outdoor these days, when some events apparently get canceled, apparently authorities suggest that people don't go out without a need, and exhibition match was suspended due to smoke
2. actual competitors collapsing or complaining apparently due to air condition
and you say that Rafa, with other main draw players start training, hence we will see if they complain or not.
as others noted, one can walk away from the practice court. walking away from a qualies match has significant penalty: it's not possible to earn prize money, it's not possible to earn points and ATP / ITF might follow it up with further penalties for lack of sportsmanship
so, the roughly 100 participants at men qualies and 100 participants at women qualies, shouldn't be at the mercy of Novak, Rafa and Roger hitting the training courts and perhaps complaining or perhaps not complaining about conditions.
and additional players that will start playing the main draw event, when the weather conditions might stay same.
if conditions are fine, then why authorities called people to stay at home and avoid going outside without a need? (if true of course)
if conditions are fine, then why other events get canceled, like the horse event mentioned somewhere here above? (if true of course)
hope this answers your question.
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