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MELBOURNE, Australia – You could make a tired old joke about the hardy northern Canuckians not being able to handle the heat of the Australian summer.
But it’s not funny at all when you’re rolled off the court in wheelchair.
First Félix Auger-Aliassime had to pull the ripcord and then Marina Stakusic also suffered from cramps in her first-round match Monday at the Australian Open. And both were forced to retire, without any real answers as to how and why it happened.
It was hot – about 30C, although the heat index was lower than the actual temperature because of some wind, and the humidity was under 30 percent. So it wasn’t THAT hot; both have faced worse conditions.
For Stakusic, who played three qualifying matches last week to make her first Australian Open main draw, it was especially disappointing because she’d played a wondrous first set against Australian wild card Priscilla Hon. And she had fought back from being down 0-3 in the third set while battling the oncoming wave of cramps when she just … sunk to the court in agony.
The medical officials basically iced every visible part of her body after she forfeited a 40-0 point to go and sit down for treatment during the changeover, at 4-3. But she soon went down again. For the final time.
And so Hon, who was impressively solicitous throughout, wins her first main draw match at her home Grand Slam in six years. Not the way she’d have wanted to, but a win’s a win.
Here’s how it looked (screenshots from the Channel 9 stream).
In better spirits later on
A couple of hours after all that drama, Stakusic did come up to speak to speak to the media and by that point, she was feeling a lot better and even smiling.
“I’ve never had this before so .. I mean, I’ve heard form a lot of people how it is, and how it feels and it’s super painful, you know? You can’t bend your leg … it just stays straight. You can’t bend it at all,” she said. “It was very painful, but at least right now it’s settled down.”
Stakusic looked impressive in the qualifying – back to the calm, quality tennis she was playing when she first came on the scene, and nothing like the frazzled tennis through the middle of 2025, a period that included some physical niggles as well.
“Very disappointed with how it ended today but also at the same time I can just learn from it and do better next time, I guess,” she said. “And I’m happy with how I played in qualies. It’s never easy to play through to qualifying for a Slam so I’m just happy with how it went – up until today.”
Stakusic said the confidence is back, after posting a lot of wins at the lower levels at the end of last season. “And now it was a good start of the year, and I’m excited to see how the rest of the year unfolds,” she said.
It’s too soon to tell exactly how much her ranking will improve by winning those three qualifying matches. A few players – including Hon herself – could overtake her. But she’ll move up.
And she’ll also take home $150,000 AUD for making the main draw. By today’s exchange rates, that’s nearly $140,000 CAD, or just over $100,000 US.
That’s enough to keep the bank account happy through the first part of the season. To say the least.
