Why bubbles forced an Australian Open match to be brought to a halt
- Bubbles appeared on court 3 of the Australian Open
- The tennis match had to be moved to another court
- Bubbles are caused by moisture and affect bounce
A bizarre and rarely seen problem brought a men’s doubles quarter-final to a complete halt and ultimately forced the players to switch courts at the Australian Open on Wednesday.
Play was stopped in the first set of Maximo Gonzalez and Andreas Molteni’s match against Aussie Matthew Ebden and Rohan Bopanna after Court 3 began to ‘bubble’.
An inspection of the court was subsequently carried out, which revealed that several parts of the playing surface were blistered.
The referee noted several areas of concern and Ebden pointed out several more.
‘Oh wow. If a service hits this, that’s a problem,” Ebden said.
The doubles match of Matthew Ebden (right) and Rohan Bopanna against Maximo Gonzalez and Andreas Molteni was stopped due to the appearance of bubbles on the court
The bubbles (indicated in the photo by Ebden) are caused by moisture under the surface and can affect the bounce of the ball
Course 3 was one of the first courses built before the Open and heavy rain had fallen on the surface two weeks ago.
“Sometimes it is difficult to see the small bubbles, the larger bubbles are visible to the eye, but sometimes bubbles can occur on the hard courts,” recently retired Australian star John Millman said in a commentary.
“Years ago there were problems on the US Open courts with bubbling, and that’s where the moisture gets stuck under the surface.
“The ball doesn’t bounce on it, it really affects the bounce. If the bubbles become big enough, it can even be quite difficult to continue.’
Former Aussie player Geoff Masters echoed these comments.
“If some moisture got under the surface it’s possible that this could have caused bubbling,” Geoff Masters said.
“That’s probably how this came about, I would say.”
Bopanna showed how serious the problem was by dropping a ball on one of the bubbles and watching it barely bounce back.
Runway 3 was one of the first runways constructed and there was heavy rain two weeks ago
The match was eventually moved to the Margaret Court Arena (photo, Rohan Bopanna identifies problem areas on the pitch)
“That’s the most concerning because that’s where a lot of balls are going to land clearly and consistently,” Masters said.
“If a serve, the fastest ball that comes to you, is even slightly off, you have a problem.”
The match was moved to Margaret Court Arena and play resumed.
Ebden and Bopana eventually won the match 6-4 7-6 (7-5) to advance to the semi-finals of the Open.