MELBOURNE, Australia — Play on Rod Laver Arena, the Australian Open’s biggest court, was suspended on Monday afternoon because of a broken net.
The incident happened at the start of the fourth set in the fourth-round match between world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and the No. 13 seed Holger Rune.
Trailing 1-0 in the set, Sinner hit a serve that broke the bolt attaching the net to the court. Tournament staff tried to screw it back in, but after they were unsuccessful they told the players to return to the locker room.
Before leaving Sinner told his team that he understood there would be a 20-minute break. In the end the staff were able to find a fix slightly quicker, but by the time the players had come back on court and had a quick warm-up, it was just over 21 minutes between Sinner’s serve that broke the net and the match restarting.
The freak incident was in keeping with a strange match, which Sinner led 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 0-1 at the time play was stopped. Sinner looked out of sorts for long periods and there was a break of more than 11 minutes in the third set when he required medical attention, which included him leaving the court to receive treatment after having a monitor attached to his finger.
At that point Sinner, the defending champion, looked in real danger of being knocked out by a resurgent Rune, who was playing with authority after a difficult 2024. But following the medical timeout, which appeared to be for both an injury and discomfort with the heat on a sweaty day in Melbourne, Sinner broke his opponent and pinched the third set. Rune himself had required treatment on his right knee, prior to the final game of the set.
The momentum appeared to be back with Sinner, who was able to get off court and reevaluate after a gruelling match up to that point.
The winner of the match will play either Alex De Minaur or Alex Michelsen in the quarterfinals.
(Photo: Martin Keep / AFP via Getty Images)
