Sinner’s victory over Rune was delayed by a network problem

On January 20, 2025By Littum

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The screw that holds the net in place Australian Open main stadium was loose under the defending champion Jannik Sinner’s fourth-round win against Holger Rune on Monday, delaying play for about 20 minutes early in the fourth set.

After completion his 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory to return to the quarterfinals, Sinner acknowledged that the break “was very helpful” on a day when he struggled physically and sought medical attention with temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius).

“Obviously, no one expected this kind of thing. Usually when the net breaks, it’s not the bottom,” Sinner said. “I was lucky today.”

The no. 1-ranked Sinner, who is the defending champion at Melbourne Parkhit one of his booming serves into the net and shook it. He managed to accidentally dislodge the piece of metal that hooks into the bottom of the black tape that separates players on a tennis court and then turns to screw into the blue painted surface.

It left the net loose so the game could not continue. At least half a dozen people went over to look at things and try to reconnect the equipment. Eventually, a worker with a red toolbox was able to fix it, earning a cheer from thousands of spectators at Rod Laver Arena.

“This is probably something that will happen one in 500 games. It is very rare,” said Rune. “There’s nothing to be done about it. The net broke. Boom. That’s it. We just had to wait.”

Meanwhile, chair referee Nico Helwerth sent both Sinner and Rune off to the dressing room so they didn’t have to sit on the sidelines in the afternoon heat.

“Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, we are trying to fix the network as quickly as possible,” Helwerth announced to the crowd. “It will probably take a few minutes. Thank you for your patience.”

Each player had already taken a medical timeout during the game. Sinner led 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 0-1 when action was stopped.

When Sinner and 13th-seeded Rune, a 21-year-old from Denmark, stepped back onto the court to return to competition, the fans applauded.

The players were then allowed to warm up for three minutes before Sinner got things going again with a serve.

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