The victory of Jannik Sinner on Eliot Spizzirri in it Australian Open 2026 left plenty of fabric to cut. And not necessarily because of the match itself, but because of the suspension that occurred in the third set as a result of the heat that hit Melbourne when the world number two was down 3 to 1 and that helped him regain energy to turn the match around. In this context, a legend like John McEnroe was suspicious of this procedure, despite the regulations that supported it.
“I don’t think anyone wants to see this in our sport. It seems like there is favoritism. I would like to think that if the ball was in Spizzirri’s side, they would have stopped the game too. I don’t know if they would have done that.” expressed the former world number one and winner of seven Grand Slam titles during his commentary on the ESPN broadcast.
McEnroe is just one of the many voices that referred to the topic. Another opinion, in addition to Spizzirri himself, was Carlos Alcaraz. But the world number one took the drama out of the situation and praised the strength of Sinner to reverse the bad result in the face of very adverse weather.
The truth is that after having suffered the climatic attacks, the two-time champion of the Australian Open 2026 will play his match against Luciano Darderi in another stadium (Margaret Court) and at a different time. The round of 16 match will take place no earlier than 6 PM (local time), being six hours later than their duel against the American.
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