Australian Open: Scary scenes as Slovenia's Dalila Jakupovic retires due to bushfire smoke in Melbourne

Brendan Bradford

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Australian Open: Scary scenes as Slovenia's Dalila Jakupovic retires due to bushfire smoke in Melbourne image

There were scary scenes at Melbourne Park on Tuesday afternoon as Slovenia's Dalila Jakupovic was forced to retire during the first round of Australian Open qualifying. 

Jakupovic had what appeared to be a coughing fit on court, possibly as a result of the terrible smoke haze hanging over Melbourne. 

Qualifying and practise sessions were delayed an hour on Tuesday morning as air pollution was deemed too severe to play in. 

It was 5-6 in the second set after Jakupovic had won the first set over Switzerland's Stefanie Voegele when the Slovenian collapsed to her knees. 

MORE: When does the Australian Open start?

The match had been going for an hour and 52 minutes at the time of the scary incident. 

Jakupovic had what appeared to be a coughing fit, collapsing to her knees and receiving assistance on court. 



Jakupovic had reportedly been unwell in the lead-up to the match and had seen doctors before it began. 

The world number 180 also used an inhaler during the match prompting some followers to link the incident to the bushfire smoke clouding the city. 


Jakupovic later said she was angry at the circumstances that saw he forced out of the match. 


 

On Tuesday morning, tournament organisers made the decision to postpone the start of play be an hour. 

"Practice was temporarily suspended this morning due to poor air quality," the statement read.

"Qualifying matches will begin at 11am. Conditions onsite are improving and are being constantly monitored.

"Further decisions will be made using onsite data and in close consultation with our medical team, the Bureau of Meteorology and scientists from EPA Victoria.

"As always the health and safety of our players, our staff and our fans is our priority."

Around an hour after Jakupovic's retirement, Canada's Eugenie Bouchard had an extended medical timeout during her qualifying match against China's Xiaodi You. 

After winning a second set tiebreak to lock the match at one set apiece, Bouchard asked to talk to the doctor. 

After speaking courtside, Bouchard left the arena, returning a few minutes later to start the third set. 

Earlier in the day, American Noah Rubin took to Twitter to criticise what he saw as a lack of communication between organisers and the players. 

"Morning of first round of qualies here in Melbourne and not even a single email has been received about air quality," he wrote.

"Maybe an over reaction but the lack of information on how to proceed is scary."

Rubin later retweeted tennis journo Simon Briggs' tweet about Jakupovic's retirement. 

Fellow pros Katie Boulter and Steve Darcis were amoung the many players who also spoke out.  


 

Later in the afternoon, Elina Svitolina added her voice to the list of frustrated players, tweeting a screenshot of the unhealthy air conditions in Melbourne. 

"Why do we need to wait for something bad to happen to do an action," she asked. 


At the Kooyong Classic, Maria Sharapova's match with Laura Seigemund was called off at 7-5 5-5. 

Sharapova said she felt a cough coming on. 

More to come. 

Brendan Bradford