Australian Open 2012 live stream

Maria Sharapova identified a problem with the playing surface on Show Court 2 yesterday as she prepared for her match against Julia Goerges

Former Australian Open Champion Maria Sharapova found a dead spot on Show Court 2 yesterday. After briefly suspecting that her shoes were at fault, she observed a defect in the playing surface.

“All of a sudden I looked down and there was a pretty big bubble there”, said Sharapova. “I mentioned it to the umpire and she said she would make the call”. Umpire Kerrilyn Cramer then dropped a ball on the spot to assess the situation. The ball didn’t bounce back, and a technician was called in to fix the problem.

It was later revealed that moisture from recent rainfall had gotten underneath the Plexicushion layer on the court. Evaporation, due to a rise of temperature, caused pockets of vapour to lift the area of the court.

The crowd in Melbourne laughed when Cramer tested the surface, and cheered when the technician emerged. Sharapova wasn’t exactly amused, which is understandable given the importance of the Slam. “Maybe it was comical to you”, stated Sharapova, “it wasn’t really comical to us. We warmed up and had to sit and wait for a while”. The court is once again playable, and further issues, or bubbles to be more precise, seem unlikely to arise.