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Playing and winning? Sometimes it’s too hot to be standing on court during Australian Open

Canada's Marina Stakusic had to retire from her match and leave on a wheelchair, a day after a ballgirl fainted due to heat

3 min readJan 19, 2026 08:21 PM IST

Marina Stakusic, center, of Canada is taken from the court in a wheelchair after retiring in her first round match against Priscilla Hon, right, of Australia at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (Joel Carrett/AAP Image via AP)

Imagine coming to the court on two feet and having to leave on a wheelchair? Tennis players are considered among the fittest athletes in the world, but the Australian Open heat gets to the best of them.

Canadian qualifier Marina Stakusic would have fancied her chances of advancing in the women’s singles draw of the first Grand Slam tournament of the season when she was pitted against local wildcard Priscilla Hon in Monday’s first round. The feeling would have been strengthened when she pocketed the first set 6-1. But it all ended in pain for Marina, physically and metaphorically.

The Canadian began to struggle as the match progressed and failed to even see it through as she exited 1-6, 6-4, 5-3 with her opponent serving for a spot in the next round. Marina couldn’t get off the court on her own as she had to be helped by Priscilla onto a wheelchair.

Severe heat and humidity have been a talking point over the first two days of the tournament, but conditions weren’t that stressful when Marina called it quits.

Playing on the ANZ Arena, she needed medical attention for leg cramps as the match crossed the two-hour mark. According to ABC News, the temperature was around 29 degree centigrade and it wasn’t too humid, by local standards in summer.

Also Read | Australian Open: Turkish tennis player explains rushing to help ball girl after collapse, ‘She was really struggling’

“It was definitely warm out there, and I think as well with the nerves, the stress levels, it just all impacts it. Obviously everyone is really stressed with playing in a Grand Slam, so it doesn’t help in that way,” Hon said in her post-match press conference,” adding “I’m Australian, so I should be quite used to it.”

“Obviously I didn’t want to win like that. I really hope she does feel better. That was quite a scene out there. I had quite a few people come up to me and be, like, ‘Wow, that was so dramatic.’”

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Marina wasn’t the only Canadian to find the conditions too tough to continue. Men’s seventh seed Felix Auger-Aliassime walked off after two hours of his match against Nuno Borges of Portugal with the latter leading 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

“I can’t recall ever in my life (cramping) this early in a tournament, this early in a match,” the 25-year-old said. “I’m OK, but I just started cramping at the start of the third set. Yeah, it became very difficult to be competitive at this level.”

Even on the opening day of the tournament, a ballgirl fainted due to heat and Turkish qualifier Zeynep Sönmez rushed to her aid during the upset win over No. 11 Ekaterina Alexandrova.