Jannik Sinner's Rival Responds To Heat Rule Call Following Australian Open Scare

Last Updated:January 25, 2026, 07:45 IST

Eliot Spizziri reflects on his Australian Open match against Jannik Sinner, discussing the heat rule break and Sinner's comeback at Rod Laver Arena.

Eliot Spizzirri plays a backhand return to Jannik Sinner (Picture credit: AP)

United States tennis star Eliot Spizziri has said that he did have a smile on his face when the heat alarm was blown and the players were handed a lengthy break during his match against defending champion Jannik Sinner at the Australian Open, adding that he felt that the timing was a bit ‘funny’.

Sinner was battling cramps in both his arms and legs and had slipped a break down in the third set when fortune intervened. With the extreme heat rule triggered, play was suspended for eight minutes as the roof at Rod Laver Arena was closed, a pause that proved just long enough to revive the Italian.

Sinner then reeled off five of the next six games to claim the set. Another cooling break followed between the third and fourth sets, buying him valuable recovery time and he returned reinvigorated to complete a stirring comeback with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win against Spizziri.

After the match, several fans took to social media to suggest the heat rule had come to Sinner’s rescue. Spizzirri, however, played it down, saying, “I don’t know if he got saved by it."

“I smiled a little when the heat rule went into effect because the timing was kind of funny, just as I went up 3-1," Spizziri added.

Sinner has encountered similar struggles before. He was forced to retire in the third round of his Shanghai title defence in October last year and then battled through comparable problems weeks later during a three-set win against Alexander Zverev in the Vienna final.

“I got lucky today. At the point when they closed the roof, it took a little bit of time. I tried to loosen up a little bit. It helped… I also changed the way of playing certain points," Sinner admitted after the match.

“You cannot have treatment at that time, so I was stretching. I lay down for five minutes, trying to loosen up the muscles. It worked really well. Trying to get the body temperature a bit down," Sinner added.

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