Organisers cool but heat is oppressive, say players at Australian Open

Organisers will not invoke the Extreme Heat policy, citing no major medical casualties yet, even as players need attention and timeouts breaks.

For Roger Federer with an ice-cool temperament, the former world No 1 said playing in the heat was a ‘mental thing’. Petar Kujundzic / Reuters

MELBOURNE // One player fainted mid-match as temperatures topped 42°C at the Australian Open yesterday. Others said it felt like they were playing tennis in a sauna, or on a frying pan that sizzled their soles.

The scorching heat on the second day of the tournament thinned crowds at Melbourne Park and prompted players to cool off between points with bags of ice on their heads or draped over their necks. Little relief was expected this week, with similar heat forecast until Friday.

Canadian qualifier Frank Dancevic said he started feeling dizzy in the first set of his match against Benoit Paire and then collapsed in the next set.

“I couldn’t keep my balance any more and I leaned over the fence, and when I woke up people were all around me,” he said.

After receiving medical attention, he returned to the match and lost in straight sets. “It’s hazardous to be out there. It’s dangerous,” he said, and criticised the tournament organisers for not having suspended play. “Until somebody dies, they’re just going to keep playing matches in this heat.

“I think it’s inhumane, I don’t think it’s fair to anybody, to the players, to the fans, to the sport, when you see players pulling out of matches, passing out.

“I’ve played five-set matches all my life and being out there for a set-and-a-half and passing out with heatstroke, it’s not normal.”

The tournament organisers have not yet invoked the “Extreme Heat Policy” and said the decision was based on a quotient of air temperature, humidity and wind speed.

Officials have played down health risks. They said the majority of matches were completed without calls for medical attention.

“Of course there were a few players who experienced heat-related illness or discomfort, but none required significant medical intervention after they had completed their match,” said Tim Wood, the tournament’s chief medical officer.

A ball girl was treated for heat stress during a morning match and the organisers shortened rotations for the ball kids to 45-minute shifts.

In their post-match interviews, players used metaphors and anecdotes to describe the extreme heat.

“I put the [water] bottle down on the court and it started melting a little bit underneath – the plastic. So you know it was warm,” said Caroline Wozniacki, the No 10 seed. “It felt like I was playing in a sauna.”

Wozniacki was luckier than most. She had a straight sets win in the morning when it was a mere 38°C.

China’s Peng Shuai cramped up and vomited before losing to Japan’s Kumuri Nara.

“I had no energy, I couldn’t run, I couldn’t serve,” she said, blaming the heat for her defeat. “So it’s impossible to play tennis like this.”

Sometimes a hot breeze stirred the air, making things worse, said No 13-seeded John Isner, who retired from his first-round match with a right ankle injury.

“It was like an oven – when I open the oven and the potatoes are done. That’s what it’s like,” Isner said.

Two-time defending champion Victoria Azarenka agreed.

“It felt pretty hot, like you’re dancing in a frying pan or something like that,” she said after advancing to the second round.

Always cool under pressure, Roger Federer avoided touching the hot ground at changeovers by sitting on his bench with his feet up on a towel. The winner of 17 grand slam tournaments advanced to the second round and said that, for him, the heat was “just a mental thing”.

Andy Murray, the world No 4, struck a more sober tone in his comments after he had come off the court.

“As much as it’s easy to say the conditions are safe, it only takes one bad thing to happen,” the Briton said. “It looks terrible for the whole sport when people are collapsing, ball kids are collapsing, people in the stands are collapsing. That’s obviously not great.”

Murray’s match had been one of the later ones scheduled yesterday, beginning about 7pm local time.

“When I went out to hit before the match, the conditions, like at 2.30pm, 3pm, were very, very, very tough conditions. Anyone’s going to struggle in that heat,” he said.

“In this heat, that’s when you’re really pushing it to your limits. You don’t want to see anything bad happen to anyone.”