Tennis star Luciano Darderi has shocked viewers by suffering an agonising attack that left him writhing in pain on live TV after playing in oppressive heat at the Australian Open.
The Italian was being interviewed on the Open’s Blue Zone broadcast on Saturday after beating Karen Khachanov in their third-round clash when he suddenly appeared to be in distress.
Darderi’s match was played on an uncovered outside court in temperatures of at least 36C on a day when the extreme heat took a toll on many players, most notably reigning Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner.
Darderi was being interviewed by host Chris Stubbs and former American star Nicholas Monroe when his hamstring cramped suddenly.
He immediately stopped talking, grimaced and grabbed at his leg while his head collapsed to the desk.
‘Are you OK?’ Stubbs asked.
Pictured: Italian star Luciano Darderi grimaces and writhes in pain as he suffers cramping during a broadcast from the Australian Open on Saturday
Darderi’s head collapsed to the desk as the pain intensified. He later said the attack was ‘like a dog that bit my hamstring’
Before the attack, Darderi struggled badly with the intense heat (pictured) as he won his third-round match against Karen Khachanov
‘This is the conditions today that we’re facing.
‘We might get back to the match just for a moment here … We’ll give Luciano just a moment to regain his composure.’
Once the cramps had subsided, Darderi told Stubbs it felt ‘like a dog that bit my hamstring’.
Earlier in the day, Sinner physically unravelled in the heat during his third-round match against American world No.85 Eliot Spizzirri.
The two-time champion had already dropped the opening set and was down a break in the third when his movement deteriorated dramatically, prompting visible concern from commentators, officials and fans alike.
‘Jannik Sinner has never been more relieved to come off the court,’ Brenton Speed said in commentary for Channel Nine.
‘What an incredible story this is.’
Sinner’s distress was impossible to ignore.
Darderi (pictured) was far from the only star to suffer as a result of the heatwave that forced play to be stopped at Melbourne Park
Reigning Australian Open men’s singles champion Jannik Sinner could hardly move (pictured) due to exhaustion and cramping before he was rescued from defeat when play was stopped and the roof at Rod Laver Arena was closed
He received a time violation after struggling to reach the baseline to serve, pointed to his left leg while speaking with the trainer, and required repeated medical attention as cramps appeared to spread through his body.
As the heat stress scale climbed, Sinner sat through changeovers with multiple ice packs, using a personal air-cooling unit while attempting to loosen his muscles.
When play was finally suspended and the roof was closed due to the heat, Sinner appeared to be on the verge of being forced to retire.
He recovered to eke out a gruelling 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win after taking pickle juice for his cramps.
‘Who knows what might have happened if play in that third set had continued for another 10–15 minutes,’ former tennis star Todd Woodbridge said on Nine after the match.
The Australian Open’s heat stress scale allows for a 10-minute break between sets once level four is reached.
At level five, play must be suspended on outside courts or moved under closed roofs.
Officials confirmed the scale had exceeded 5.0 as temperatures soared across Melbourne Park on Saturday.
