Rod Laver Arena Roof Rules

The initial heat policy allowed for the roof to be closed when the temperature rose above 39 c 102 f or at the referee s discretion when the temperature rose above 35 c 95 f but only for daytime matches and only once all singles matches could be scheduled inside rod laver arena.

Rod laver arena roof rules.

The arena was the first in australia to have a retractable roof installed and it is the largest indoor arena in australia. Rod laver arena has a seating capacity of 14 820 with a capacity of 15 400 for sports such as basketball when extra seats are added around the court and up to 14 200 for concerts with floor seating. Melbourne park was officially opened in 1988 with the first tennis ball hit in january at the australian open. Jake michaels is a melbourne based sports writer who covers everything from aussie rules to formula one basketball to boxing.

Rod laver arena at melbourne park. The men s final was played under a closed roof at rod laver arena. The arena currently attracts over 1 5 million visitors per year. Marin cilic says it was difficult to adjust to conditions at the rod laver arena after australian open organisers closed the roof.

Previously known as flinders park or the national tennis centre melbourne park s primary arena centre court was renamed rod laver arena in 2000 in recognition of rod laver s remarkable tennis career. The decision to close an arena roof rests solely with the tournament referee. In terms of sport tennis has brought worldwide recognition for. Roofs on rod laver arena margaret court arena and melbourne arena can be closed in the event of rain or the extreme heat policy being invoked prior to the scheduled start of play.

The australian open s new heat rules were triggered in sweltering conditions in melbourne on thursday but time will tell the retractable roof over rod laver arena will remain closed. He said when conditions change quickly and the roof needs to close on rod laver or margaret court arena for instance the process of adjustment just needs to be sped up a little. On a day in which the temperature topped 40 degrees in melbourne the rod laver arena roof was left open for the first match between russia s elena dementieva and spain s carla suarez navarro. If play commences with a roof closed it will remain closed for the entire match.