Clear skies but storm rages on

MELBOURNE • The skies were largely clear of the smoke from bush fires yesterday as Australian Open organisers defended their decision to play qualifiers during two days when a thick haze enveloped the city.

Severe criticism has been levelled at Tennis Australia after qualifying for the first Grand Slam of the season went ahead at Melbourne Park with minor disruptions despite the smoky conditions.

Slovenia's Dalila Jakupovic was forced to retire from her qualifier on Tuesday after suffering a coughing fit, while several other players also said they had found it difficult to breathe.

Britain's Liam Broady, who lost his qualifying match on Tuesday, said the decision to continue playing while Melbourne residents were being warned to stay indoors made his "blood boil".

He tweeted: "We can't let this slide. The e-mail we received yesterday from the ATP (Tour) and (Australian Open) was a slap in the face, conditions were 'playable'. Were they healthy?"

Tournament director and Tennis Australia chief Craig Tiley, however, told media yesterday he was confident the safeguards organisers had in place were sufficient to protect the players from harm.

"Our medical team were satisfied with the conditions that the players were competing in, per all of the research and the data and the science that they have," he said. "But they also make an assessment.

"You could have been two hours into those matches and have 25 people presenting themselves with a medical condition that may be related to the pollutants. If that's the case, inform me and we stop."

Australia is experiencing one of its worst bush-fire seasons, with blazes killing 28 people, destroying more than 2,500 homes, and razing forests and farmland over an area equivalent to the size of Bulgaria.

On Wednesday night, the country celebrated its first major rainstorms since the crisis began and qualifying got underway as scheduled yesterday. Temperatures were also more than 10 deg C cooler than on the previous two days.

The negative feeling from many of the lower-ranked players, for whom qualifying presents the opportunity to get into the main draw and make more money than they might earn in a year, however, had not gone away.

"I pride myself on being one of the fittest players on the circuit I play and my body literally failed me on that day #Poor," British player Jay Clarke tweeted.

Tennis Australia said earlier this week that its decisions about whether conditions were fit for play were based on on-site data and in consultation with medical staff, weather forecasters and government scientists and Tiley sought to appease the anger.

"We understand the anger, but a lot of it comes from the confusion and the complexity of understanding what goes on," he said.

"If anyone at any time is feeling not well, we have a full medical team. We have a respiratory specialist on hand to deal with any of these issues."

However, according to a tweet from the Environment Protection Authority for the state of Victoria, the air quality has been forecast to be "poor to very poor" over the next three days - a major concern with the tournament proper starting on Monday. Australia's Bureau of Meteorology is also predicting a concurrent rise in temperature.

REUTERS