Roger Federer fans have been left stramded in various parts of Melbourne after a tram strike hit the city today.
The world No 3 has been handed a rare afternoon slot for his quarter-final clash with Tennys Sandgren.
The match is expected to get underway around 2.30pm (3.30am GMT) but supporters have been hit with extra inconvenience for their commute to Melbourne Park.
Around 1,500 tram workers vowed to stop working between 10am and 2pm in a bitter dispute over pay.
That has left the city crippled of options of getting to the Australian Open on day nine.
The tournament tweeted: “A reminder that there will be no tram services in Melbourne between 10am and 2pm today.
“There will be a replacement bus shuttle between Flinders and Russell Streets. Use City Entrance and Richmond Entrance for easy entry to Melbourne Park.”
However, those replacement bus services were nowhere to be seen when Express Sport attempted to use the facility.
And fans were also explaining their difficulties on social media.
“Sucks! there’s a tram drivers strike in Melbourne CBD, which means I need to walk to AO so I’ll be late again to watch his practice,” one supporter wrote.
And another added: “So not only did trams go on strike and dump us at a hospital near no buses or trains, by the time I walked and got to a bus and train the trains are now running late and/or not running and I will still be late regardless. God f***ing damn it.”
Yarra Trams CEO Julien Dehornoy had advised supporters to arrive in plenty of time.
“To those who will want to go to the Australian Open, travel early,” Mr Dehornoy said
“The event starts at 10am and until 10am all our trams, all our services will run normally.”
But there was definitely a noticeable lack of fans present compared to previous early mornings.
Rail, Tram and Bus Union state secretary Luba Grigorovitch explained why the strike was taking place.
“We have not taken industrial action for two months because we did not want to inconvenience the public over the past month,” he said.
“However, Yarra Trams has now left us no choice.”
