Australian Open Video: Watch Bizarre Dead Spot Bring Match To a Halt

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Friday during the Australian Open something really strange happened and no, I am not referring to the fact that people are paying attention to tennis because it is a Grand Slam. I am referring to the presence of a dead spot on one of the courts.

As you can see from the video, a dead spot means no bouncing balls.

Seeing a tennis ball thrown at the ground and stopping dead on the ground is truly one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen. When you expect one thing to happen and it doesn’t, it is a weird thing.

The way they fix a dead spot is even stranger.

In order to fix the dead spot, Australian Open officials had to drill into the dead spot to release air built up under the playing surface.

The match between Maria Sharapova and Julia Goerges was delayed for 20 minutes while workers fixed the problem.

"All of a sudden I looked down and there was a pretty big bubble there," Sharapova said. "I mentioned it to the umpire and she said she would make the call."

In the match Sharapova won 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 despite the delay.

"Maybe it was comical to you, it wasn't really comical to us. We warmed up and had to sit and wait for a while," she said. "They took care of it pretty fast."

The same court was used prior to the Sharapova match by Andy Roddick and Robin Haase. Rodick said that he had not noticed the dead spot.

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