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After the pollution linked to the fires, it is the rain that disrupts the start of the 2020 Australian Open. Hannah McKay / Reuters

The start of the Australian Open 2020 is very complicated in Melbourne. The qualifying week was disrupted by pollution linked to the terrible fires plaguing the country. And this Monday, January 20, 32 matches had to be postponed because of the heavy rain.

Rarely has a sporting event been so much at the heart of environmental issues . Despite himself, the Australian Open, the first major meeting of the tennis season, is a magnifying glass on the evils that plague the country: the huge fires that have been raging since September and have already burned 10 million hectares, caused at least 29 human deaths and killed perhaps more than a billion animals according to a study.

The circuit angry after a trying week

Renowned for his eruptive nature, Nick Kyrgios, one of the Australian tennis stars, could not hold back his tears on January 3 after an ATP Cup match. The fires in Australia also bruised him. His hometown, Canberra, did not escape the flames. " Canberra must look the most toxic in the world right now, it's very sad. It's hard, ”said Kyrgios.

The air intoxicated by the fires, indeed, made a lot of talk all the last week, during the qualifications for the tournament. While the level of pollution was classified as " dangerous " and residents were advised to stay caulked at home, tennis players and tennis players played. A heresy for some, an ordeal for others. Canada's Eugénie Bouchard, eliminated in the third round of Australian Grand Slam qualifying, suffered from chest pain. Australian Bernard Tomic, also beaten, asked for a fan to be installed as he had difficulty breathing.

Even more shocking was the image of Dalila Jakupovic on his knees, suffocating and crying. The Slovenian, who led in her match, had to give up, taking violent fits of cough on the court. Several players had to use inhalers to recover. Anger then increased. “The more I think about the conditions in which we played, the more I get mad. (...) Where is the protection of players, men and women? Exploded Briton Liam Broady on Twitter.

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Ready for my 1st round @australianopen #letsplay

A publication shared by Nicolas Mahut (@nicomahut) on Jan. 14, 2020 at 6:24 am PST

Frenchman Nicolas Mahut wanted to be more ironic by appearing on Instagram with a protective mask and the message "Ready for my first round". In the columns of L'Équipe , he still lambasted: “ I would not have let my son pick up balls under these conditions. Even Roger Federer wondered: " Where are we with the threshold to know if we play or not?" "

The rain gets involved, the first surprises fall

Finally, the management of the Australian Open has set up two air pollution measures: one from which the organizers and doctors will debate whether or not to continue matches, and another which will result in the systematic suspension of matches . And this Monday, January 20, for the first day of the tournament, the indicators were positive in Melbourne: the air quality was "good" and we could play without fear. Only here, another factor came to seize the established plan.

The long-awaited rain to fight the fires arrived Thursday, January 16 in Australia. Good news on one front, but bad news in some areas of the east of the country where bad weather has caused flooding. In Melbourne, to the south, the first drops arrived in the early afternoon. Only three courts having a retractable roof, the organizers had to cancel many meetings. 32 were postponed until Tuesday. The situation is not as problematic as a week earlier, but decidedly, this Australian Open is a headache.

Some surprises nevertheless punctuated this first day. In the men, the main seeds who were able to play were not a problem. Roger Federer and Stefanos Tsitsipas passed without a hitch. The defending champion and sevenfold winner, the Serbian Novak Djokovic, dropped a set against the German Jan-Lennard Struff before gleaning the 900th victory of his career (only Jimmy Connors, Roger Federer, Ivan Lendl, Rafael Nadal and Guillermo Vilas do better). The flop of the day is for the Canadian Denis Shapovalov: seeded n ° 13, he took the front door against the modest Hungarian Marton Fucsovics.

✅1st 🇦🇺 win ✅beat my idol 🙏🏾 ✅ Aussie crowds 🔊 ✅Great day 😊 # AustralianOpen #blessed pic.twitter.com/lBT85uupEA

Coco Gauff (@CocoGauff) January 20, 2020

In the ladies, the defending champion, the Japanese Naomi Osaka, passed the first round serenely, as did the American Serena Williams, 38 years old and still looking for a 24th Grand Slam which would allow her to equal the record in the matter of Margaret Court. His big sister Venus, on the other hand, was eliminated. The Australian Open double-finalist (2003 and 2017), 39 and a half years old, has bitten the dust against her compatriot Cori Gauff, 15 years old. For her first appearance in Australia, the teenager signs a good performance against one of her idols. More Tuesday ... if the elements want.