The major impression that you can’t get away from is…the HEAT. It’s outrageously hot. Heat that makes water bottles melt and players take huge gasps of air after a few minutes of hitting. You can’t help but being incredibly impressed by some players’ fitness, being able to play for hours in sweltering madness.
That’s the weather report. So what to say about the play? Well, we have started so and so. Tomic gave up after a set against Nadal, but the young Aussie hothead was not the only player to retire. Listen to this: Haas, Isner, Kohlschreiber, Stepanek, Reister, and I’m probably forgetting someone. Question is: is it because of the heat or is the off-season too short? In my view matches should be postponed when the weather is health-threatening and this is obviously the case right now. Andy Murray even told the Telegraph that the heat “could kill someone”.
Heat affects play, it’s obvious, but Federer looked remarkably cool in his three straight win against unknown Aussie Duckworth. This was pretty much the opposite of the eternal fighter, Lleyton Hewitt, who in his characteristic “come on!”-manner fought back x number of times against Italian Seppi to the home crowds delight. The boring end to the story is that he lost 7-5 in the fifth set. Was this the last Hewitt-slam? My guess is he has one more in him, but that’s it.
Other than the heat and the retirements, there’s not much to say about AO thus far. Looking forward to the following matches starting in two hours of publishing this: Davydenko vs Gasquet and Youzhny vs Mayer. Those 2nd round matches remind us that we’re in fact in the first Grand slam of the year.
And we’re feeling pretty hot.
