Tennis stars hit out as 'dangerous’ heat stops Australian Open

 
Paul Newman16 January 2014

Australian Open officials faced renewed criticism from players here today despite suspending play because of the extreme heat.

The temperature was 43.3°C when the decision to invoke the tournament’s “extreme heat policy” was taken just before 2pm.

No matches were started for the rest of the afternoon except in the two stadiums with retractable roofs but players who were already on court had to complete any sets that were already under way.

The temperature had already reached 38°C when play started at 11am. “I think they definitely should not have started the matches in the first place,” said Varvara Lepchenko, who was beaten 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 by Simona Halep. “They should have started the matches after the temperature cooled down a little bit because this is just too much.

“Obviously it is very dangerous if someone has conditions with their heart or anything like that. Just being in this temperature it’s almost like going to the sauna.”

The American described how the heat took its toll on her and admitted that at one point she “lost it”.

“In the first set my legs and arms started to get heavier,” said the world No50. “I couldn’t focus at one point and started feeling dizzier and dizzier. I couldn’t focus on my returns and couldn’t see the ball. Towards the middle of the second set, I started feeling more and more dizzy, everything started going so fast. I started feeling really hot on top of my head. And then just at one point, I completely lost it.

“After the match the first thing I did was have an ice bath, then I also had a lot of water with salt. And I just laid down in the locker room for the past hour because I just couldn't physically get up.”

Maria Sharapova was on court for nearly three and a half hours before completing a 6-3, 4-6, 10-8 victory over Italy’s Karin Knapp, who has had heart surgery. They played for another 45 minutes after the heat rule had been implemented.

Sharapova, who thought the conditions were “extremely difficult”, said the rules were not fair on players competing in a final set because there is no tie-break. She was also unhappy that it was hard to know when the heat rule would be invoked. The decision on whether to suspend play is based on the “wet bulb globe temperature”, which takes into account heat, humidity and wind.

“No one actually knows what that number is in comparison to humidity or the actual heat,” Sharapova said. “There are just a lot of questions in the air that maybe should be solved.”

World No5 Agnieszka Radwanska completed her match against Olga Govortsova indoors under the closed roof on Hisense Arena.

“Some of the girls can’t even talk after the match or practise,” said Radwanska, who won 6-0, 7-5. “You can see who played because they are so red. Today was really, really hard. Even indoors was ridiculous.”

On Tuesday, when temperatures peaked at 42.2°C, Frank Dancevic passed out during his first-round match and accused organisers of forcing players to play in “inhumane” conditions.

Ivan Dodig became the 10th player to retire in the first three days of the tournament yesterday and said he feared for his life after being rendered immobile by the heat on the exposed outer courts.

The hot weather is forecast to continue tomorrow before a dramatic drop in temperatures at the weekend.

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