Even before the first set and first hour of his match elapsed, Tomas Machac had asked the umpire for the tournament doctor, trainer and pickle juice, the drink du jour for tackling cramps. Those preventive measures taken in the intense early stages of his third-round tussle with Lorenzo Musetti proved to be sensible, for the pair would spend a brutal four hours, 25 minutes on court.
Four hours of that took place inside an open John Cain Arena, a furnace in suffocating heat. “We knew today was going to be really, really hot,” Musetti said. “I think I managed well to finish the match without cramping.”
Those early stages of Musetti’s five-set win over Machac set the tone for an unusual day at the Australian Open as the heat arrived in force, inserting itself into the outcome of matches and wreaking havoc on the schedule. A cursory glimpse around the grounds on Saturday underscored what was to come.
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