CNN — The Australian Open will add an extra day to its schedule next year in a bid to reduce pressure on players and fans following a series of punishing matches in
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Axl Rose is ending a 30-year Guns N’ Roses tradition.
The band’s frontman recently posted a note saying on social media that he would no longer be tossing his microphone into the crowd during their concerts after it came to his attention that a fan may have been hurt at their recent show in Adelaide, Australia.
“If true, obviously we don’t want anyone getting hurt or to somehow in any way hurt anyone at any of [our] shows anyway,” Rose wrote in a note he tweeted. “Having tossed the mic at the end of [our] show for over 30 years we always felt it was a known part of the very end of [our] performance that fans wanted and were aware of to have an opportunity to catch the mic.”
He thanked the band’s supporters for understanding.
“Unfortunately there [are] those that for their own reasons chose to frame their reporting regarding this subject in a more negative n’ irresponsible out of nowhere light which couldn’t [be] farther from reality,” Rose said. “We hope the public and of course [our] fans get that sometimes happens.”
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Lewis Hamilton says he remains undeterred in his fight against racial injustice. His comments came as the FIA, motorsport’s global governing body, announced it will not investigate the Formula One champion for wearing a T-shirt honoring Breonna Taylor at the Tuscan Grand Prix.
Hamilton, a six-time world champion who claimed the 90th race win of his career on Sunday, wore a T-shirt with the words “ARREST THE COPS WHO KILLED BREONNA TAYLOR” on the front, and “SAY HER NAME” above a photo of Taylor on the back, before the race and at the podium ceremony.
Having originally said it would be considering the matter, the FIA will instead clarify its guidelines as to what will be permitted for drivers and teams both pre and post-race.
The FIA is aiming to put these guidelines in place ahead of the next race of the 2020 season which is scheduled to take place in Sochi, Russia on September 27.
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“Want you to know I won’t stop, I won’t let up, I won’t give up on using this platform to shed light on what I believe is right,” Hamilton wrote on Instagram.
“I want to thank those of you who continue to support me and show love, I am so grateful.
“But this is a journey for all of us to come together and challenge the world on every level of injustice, not only racial
“We can help make this a better place for our kids and the future generations.”
READ: These were the Black victims Naomi Osaka honored on face masks
Taylor was fatally shot in her Louisville home in March as three plainclothes police officers executed a “no-knock” warrant.
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron is conducting an investigation into the incident and the FBI is investigating whether Taylor’s civil rights were violated. Taylor’s mother has filed a lawsuit in civil court against the three officers identified in connection with her daugher’s death.
No officer has been charged with a crime. Two of the officers remain on the force, while a third was fired and is appealing to get his job back.
“It’s been 6 months since Breonna Taylor was murdered by policemen, in her own home. Still no justice has been served. We won’t stay silent,” Hamilton posted on Twitter on Sunday, alongside photos of himself wearing the T-shirt.
He also added in a post-race conference: “It took me a long time to get that shirt and I’ve been wanting to wear that and bring awareness to the fact that there’s people that have been killed on the street and there’s someone that got killed in her own house.
“We have to continue to raise awareness … I think we just have to continue to push on the issue.”
The 35-year-old has been a powerful voice during the Black Lives Matter movement by calling on motorsport to do more to combat racism and attending a BLM protest in London earlier this year.
He has also announced plans to set up a commission in his name to increase diversity in motorsport.
Victory at the Tuscan GP means Hamilton is now one short of equaling Michael Schumacher’s record of 91 race wins in F1.
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The Australian Open will add an extra day to its schedule next year in a bid to reduce pressure on players and fans following a series of punishing matches in recent years that ended well into the early hours.
The new 15-day schedule for January’s season-opening grand slam in Melbourne comes after growing calls to limit finish times across a notoriously crowded schedule marked by a number of matches going long into the night and taking a grueling toll on players.
At this year’s tournament, Andy Murray and Thanasi Kokkinakis famously ended a marathon battle at 4:05 a.m. in a second-round match that lasted nearly six hours.
Murray, a three-time grand slam champion and former world No. 1, was left fuming not just at the duration of the match but also because he was denied a chance to go to the toilet in the middle of the contest.
The Australian Open has a demanding schedule in the early rounds of the tournament; five matches are regularly played each day on the show courts – three during the day session and two at night.
“We’ve listened to feedback from the players and fans and are excited to deliver a solution to minimise late finishes while continuing to provide a fair and equitable schedule on the stadium courts,” Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said in a statement.
With the new changes, the tournament’s first round will last for three days, instead of the previous two, easing the squeeze in the busy opening stages.
The Australian Open’s new dates for 2024 will be January 14-28 and the Sunday start will increase the number of sessions across three arenas from 47 to 52. But organizers did not mention whether there would be a cutoff time for night matches.
The battle between Murray and Kokkinakis was only the second-latest finish in the tournament’s history.
In 2008, Lleyton Hewitt beat Marcos Baghdatis in five sets at 4:33 a.m. after Roger Federer had taken four and a half hours to defeat Janko Tipsarevic earlier in the day.
Those late finishes are a bonus for international viewers in Europe and North America, who are able to enjoy the drama and tension of a five-set match in their daytime hours. But they are less fun for the players and those watching in the stands.
The lack of a time cap in tennis means matches last as long as it takes players to win.
Three out of the four grand slams – the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open – currently schedule night sessions, while Wimbledon ends evening sessions at 11 p.m. with unfinished matches resuming the following day.
The Wimbledon curfew, implemented in 2009, is said to be intended to get spectators home safely from the venue but the cutoff has at times left fans hanging on a cliff during the most intense matches.
The longest professional match occurred at Wimbledon in 2010 when US player John Isner eventually defeated French opponent Nicolas Mahut after an epic 11-hour contest played over three days.
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