Melbourne (AFP)

Abandonment during qualifying, player requiring medical assistance, suspended training: the toxic fumes from the fires ravaging Australia disturb the preparation for the first Grand Slam of the season, the maintenance of which raises questions.

Less than a week before the start of the prestigious Melbourne tournament (January 20 - February 2), the air quality has deteriorated considerably and claimed its first victims, including the Slovenian Dalila Jakupovic, forced to give up continuing the qualifications.

Taken by violent coughing fits, the 180th world, aged 28, stopped Tuesday her duel against the Swiss Stephanie Vögele, when she had won the first set and was led by a game in the second (6- 4, 5-6).

"I was really afraid of collapsing. That's why I want to kneel on the court, I couldn't walk anymore," said the Slovenian, accompanied to the exit by a member of the organization and his opponent.

"It is not healthy for us. I thought we were not going to play today but we did not have much choice," she added while the management of the organizers was controversial.

In the same vein, the Canadian Eugenie Bouchard had recourse to the doctor on the court because of chest pains, probably due to breathing difficulties. But she was able to finish her match and qualify for the second qualifying round.

- Controversy -

As a precaution, the organizers chose to suspend training in Melbourne ... but not the qualifications, a decision that angered the players.

"I am shocked to see that the qualifying matches started at the Australian Open. What about the health of the people who work here, especially the children who pick up the balls?" tweeted Luxembourger Mandy Minella.

"Why do we have to wait for something serious to do something?", Tweeted the 5th world player, the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, accompanying her message with a graph with the weather data of the day in Melbourne.

"When we find doctors who say that playing at 45 degrees is not dangerous at the AO (Australian Open) and referees who say that wet grass is not slippery at Wimbledon, must be able to find an expert who certifies that the air quality is sufficient no, "said the Frenchman Gilles Simon on social networks.

- Sharapova: "extreme conditions" -

Former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova, who participated in an exhibition tournament in Kooyong, a suburb of Melbourne, also preferred to give up on Tuesday, evoking "extreme" playing conditions, during her duel with the German Laura Siegemund (6-7 (4/7), 5-5).

"The chair umpire asked us to play one more game. We had been playing for two hours already. From my point of view (giving up) was a wise decision," said the winner of five major trophies, who played with a nasal spreader, a type of adhesive bandage used to facilitate breathing.

The American Noah Rubin complained on Twitter of not having been informed of the sanitary conditions, deeming "worrying" this "lack of information".

Tournament boss Craig Tiley brushed off critics saying "everyone has received an email," explaining that any decision is made after expert consultation.

Tiley had said last week that a cancellation of the Australian Open, which would be a first since the Second World War, was unlikely, while the world N.2 Novak Djokovic, president of the Players Council within ATP, considered that this question should be asked.

Since the devastating fires started in September, at least 27 people and 1 billion animals have died, more than 2,000 homes have been destroyed and an area of ​​100,000 square kilometers (10 million hectares) - larger than the area from South Korea - went up in smoke.

© 2020 AFP