MELBOURNE: Jannik Sinner was struggling to breathe and his hands were trembling in between points as Holger Rune threatened his Australian Open throne on Monday.
World No.1 Sinner took the first set 6-3 but 13th seed Rune hit back with a 6-3 second set win and the Italian looked physically far from 100 per cent in the third set on Rod Laver Arena.
“There are worrying signs for the defending champ,” Brenton Speed said on Nine.
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The temperature in Melbourne on Monday reached 32 degrees and the mercury rises much higher out on court.
Sinner was still playing at a fairly high level but looked in serious strife in between games.
“Have a look at him – he looks distressed, he doesn’t take water, there is no towel… he looks ill,” Todd Woodbridge said on Nine.
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“It looks like that Rune is the one with the more energy – no question about that,” Jim Courier added.
Sinner then took a medical timeout while leading the third set 3-2.
He had his blood oxygen tested on court before leaving to get further assessed in a break that lasted nearly 12 minutes before play resumed.
“You start to wonder with this, if he didn’t carry some kind of a weird bug into the match,” Courier said.
“We don’t know for sure. Pure speculation. But when they start doing those types of checks, that might be an indication that it’s not just fatigue…
“He is disorientated… it seems more than just the heat.”
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