Tennis
AUSTRALIAN OPEN QUALIFYING STILL DISRUPTED BY POOR AIR
Australian Open qualifying was disrupted for a second successive day due to poor air quality on Wednesday (Jan 15) as smoke from bush fires continued to blanket Melbourne in an acrid haze.
Organisers of the year’s first Grand Slam said practice had been suspended at Melbourne Park until 11am (2pm in Singapore) and qualifiers would not get underway until 1pm.
Australia is experiencing one of its worst bush fire seasons on record, with fires burning for months and claiming the lives of 28 people, destroying more than 2,500 homes and razing forests and farmland the size of Bulgaria.
Qualifying was delayed for more than an hour on Tuesday but organisers were criticised for allowing it to resume, with Slovenia’s Dalila Jakupovic forced to retire after suffering a coughing fit during her match.
“Conditions at Melbourne Park are being constantly monitored and further decisions will be made using the onsite data and in close consultation with our medical team, the Bureau of Meteorology and scientists from EPA Victoria,” governing body Tennis Australia (TA) said in a statement on Wednesday.
Play and practice at regional tournaments in Traralgon and Bendigo, along with a junior event at Royal Park in Melbourne, had also been suspended, it added.
Scheduled horse race meetings in two separate Melbourne suburbs were also cancelled on Wednesday, governing body Racing Victoria said, “due to smoke haze and poor air quality”.
Races in Melbourne’s western suburb of Werribee were scrapped a day earlier.
Air quality is expected to improve later on Wednesday when rain showers are forecast but the weather is likely to cause more delays to the Australian Open schedule, creating further headaches for organisers.
Bush fire smoke has affected a number of elite sporting competitions involving soccer, rugby league and cricket, and the pollution has raised fears for player safety at Melbourne Park, with the tournament starting on Monday.
While TA has said they were consulting experts, Victoria state’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the governing body should establish a proper air quality policy along with its existing extreme heat policy to determine whether conditions are fit for play.
“They do have a heat policy; I think they need to plan an air quality policy in the same way,” he told local media.
“We’re all trying to work out the best approach and there’s no ‘one size fits all’.
“You can’t have a blanket solution, you need to look at the individual circumstances and what the alternatives are for protecting people.”
–Reuters
Tennis
Osaka parts way with her coach
Naomi Osaka has parted ways with coach Wim Fissette after four years together across two stints, the 26-year-old announced late on Friday.
The former world number one won two of her four Grand Slam titles under the guidance of the Belgian, but is currently 75th in the rankings having returned to the tour nine months ago after a lengthy maternity break.
“Four years, two slams and a whole lot of memories,” Osaka wrote in an Instagram post.
“Thanks Wim for being a great coach and an even greater person. Wishing you all the best.”
Of the 16 tournaments Osaka has played this season, she has made the quarter-finals in only two – Doha and ‘s-Hertogenbosch – and the Japanese player has also failed to go past the second round in each of the four Grand Slams
-Reuters
Tennis
Five US women in top 15 in the world for first time in two decades
Five players from the United States are ranked in the Women’s Tennis Association’s top 15 for the first time in two decades, the USTA said on Monday.
World number two Coco Gauff led the American charge followed by sixth-ranked Jessica Pegula and Danielle Collins, who climbed two spots to ninth on the list amid a remarkable farewell season.
Madison Keys was ranked 14th while Emma Navarro hopped two spots to a career-high 15th after reaching her first major quarter-final at Wimbledon.
The last time five American women featured in the top 15 was May 24, 2004, when Lindsay Davenport was fourth in the world
-Reuters
Tennis
Venus Williams among sporting figures to get own Barbie doll
Seven-times Grand Slam champion Venus Williams and Australian soccer player Mary Fowler are among nine athletes to get a Barbie doll in their likeness as toy maker Mattel seeks to shine a light on women sports role models ahead of the Paris Olympics.
Mattel unveiled the dolls on Wednesday, each with their bespoke accessories. Fowler’s wears gloves and holds a football while Williams’ doll, dressed in an all white tennis dress and visor as well as wearing earrings, comes with a miniature racket.
The former world number one said she hoped to motivate young girls into sports with the doll.
“I literally can’t imagine my life without sports and without the game,” Williams said in a video, in which she held the doll.
“I want other young girls to have that invaluable experience of playing a sport and what it teaches you and what you learn and what you take from it, not just that moment (but) for the rest of your life… I think it’s so important for girls to be in sports.”
Other sports figures to have a doll in their likeness include French boxer Estelle Mossely, Polish sprinter Ewa Swoboda, Spanish doctor and paratriathlon athlete Susana Rodriguez, Italian former swimmer Federica Pellegrini, Canadian soccer player Christine Sinclair as well as Mexican and Brazilian gymnasts, Alexa Moreno and Rebeca Andrade.
The dolls, unveiled as Barbie turns 65 this year, “(recognise) the impact of sport in fostering self-confidence and ambition among the next generation”, Krista Berger, senior vice president of Barbie and Mattel’s Global Head of Dolls, said.
“By shining a light on these inspirational athletes and their stories, we hope to champion the belief that every young girl deserves the opportunity to pursue her passions and turn her dreams into reality,” she said in a statement.
-Reuters
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