The Delay In The World Championship Challenge
Published on: May 11, 2014It may not have been clear to the audience present at RMTC or to those following on line the events which led to the postponement of the third day of play.
Below is a summary of events:
This morning, Saturday 10th May after a night of high humidity and rainfall the court at the championship court at the Royal Melbourne Tennis Club was adversely affected by these weather conditions.
The court had what is known as ‘sweating’. The condition of sweating is condensation caused by the moisture in the air condensing on the cold stone of the walls and the floor of the court.
To play on a court in this condition is dangerous for competitors and the Referee called a postponement to the match. Under the rules of the World Championship the Referee “may stop play, if in his opinion, conditions so warrant. The match shall be resumed, as determined by the Referee at the point where play stopped.
Chronological Order Of Events Leading To The Postponement
During the night of Friday 9th May and Saturday 10th May there was heavy rainfall. These conditions affected the court’s playing surfaces. The court had what is known as ‘sweating’. The condition of sweating is condensation caused by the moisture in the air condensing on the cold stone of the walls and the floor of the court.
At 12:00 (noon) the decision was taken to delay the match in order for the court to dry out. At 14:00 hours the court still had not dried out to the satisfaction of the referee and the decision was taken to keep the heating equipment on court until 17:00 when a decision would be taken to play or to postpone.
At 16:50 the court was deemed playable and the heating equipment was removed from the court and the official warm up time commenced. Within 30 minutes of the equipment being removed the floor surface started to sweat again and return to the conditions, which had caused the postponement in the first instance. The referee carried out an inspection, and announced that the court conditions had changed again and that play would be suspended.
