Australian Open Invokes Extreme Heat Policy / Almost 1,000 Fans Treated for Overheating

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 16th January 2014

Australian Open Invokes Extreme Heat Policy / Almost 1,000 Fans Treated for Overheating

epa04023876 Tennis fans cool off on day four at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 16 January 2014. Extreme temperatures pushed the organizers to implement the Australian Open Extreme Heat Policy by closing the roofs on Rod Laver Arena and Hisense Arena, and suspending matches on all outside courts. EPA/MADE NAGI |

Never before since extreme temperatures were first recorded in Melbourne, has the thermometer risen above 100 degrees Fahrenheit four days in succession. And finally, 1:52pm today as the temperature hit 43.3 Celsius (109.94 Fahrenheit) degrees Australian Open tournament referee Wayne McKewen deemed the broiling conditions unsafe for players and applied the extreme heat policy at Melbourne Park.

McKewen suspended all play on outdoor courts and ordered the retractable roofs on Rod Laver Arena and Hisense Arena to be closed. But not until the sets in play were completed and that meant Maria Sharapova and her second round opponent, Italian Karin Knapp, were forced to play on a further 48 minutes under the brutal sun after the heat policy was implemented.

In all the match lasted three hours 28 minutes in the hottest weather yet at this scorched Grand Slam and Sharapova finally came out on top 6-3, 4-6, 10-8. And while McKewen insisted he was abiding with the rules set in place, the world no.4 and 2008 champion insisted commonsense needs to prevail.

“There is no way getting around the fact that the conditions were extremely difficult, and have been for the last few days,” said Sharapova.

“It’s a tough call. I mean, I think the question I have is no one really knows what the limit is. Not the players, the trainers themselves, when you ask them, `When will the roof be closed?’”

Sharapova maintained extra consideration should be given to players’ wellbeing in deciding sets, saying the rules did not allow for long third or fifth sets with no tie-breaker.

“No one actually knows what that number is in comparison to humidity or the actual heat,” he said. “Sometimes you wish you know, because it’s – it just depends on I’m not sure who, a referee or the meteorologist, and there are just a lot of questions in the air that maybe, you know, should be solved.

“Because I asked the trainer the other day, `What does it take for the roof to be closed or matches to be stopped?’ She said, `We have no control over this’.”

All around Melbourne Park players were resorting to ice towels and ice vests at changeovers and American Vavara Lepchenko maintained she suffered during her exit to Romania’s 11th seeded Simona Halep.

“They definitely should have not started the matches in the first place,” said Lepchenko who lost 4-6,6-0,6-1. “And the same goes for a couple of days ago when I played my (first-round) match. It was the hottest time of the day and I got caught up in that. Somehow I survived, but today it didn’t work. This is just too much.”

As the score line would suggest, Lepchenko was more affected by the conditions than her opponent. “At first I didn’t understand what was going on but then my legs, my arms started to get heavier and I couldn’t focus,” she said.

“I started feeling dizzier and dizzier. I tried everything and unfortunately I just couldn’t continue playing 100%. In the second set I couldn’t focus on my returns, I couldn’t see the ball, and then it was just like one step leading to another.

“Towards the middle of the second set I started feeling more and more dizzy, the time was going so fast and I needed more time between the points. I started feeling really hot on the top of my head and at one point I completely lost it.”

Earlier, McKewen reiterated conditions in the first three days of the tournament had not warranted the extreme heat policy to be implemented, but agreed the 24 hours forecast for Thursday could mean a different story.

Speaking to Melbourne radio station 3AW, McKewen said weather conditions were being “continually re-assessed” and that he was in regular contact with the tournament’s chief medical doctor and the Bureau of Meteorology, which has set up a temporary base at Melbourne Park.

“We’ve got staff in the tournament control who are continually monitoring the weather conditions,” said McKewen who abides by the extreme heat policy that is applied when the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature exceeds a predetermined threshold.

“I’ve got guidelines which I follow. We don’t want to have a hard mark as to, OK if it hits this we stop play. Because we all know in Melbourne temperatures can fluctuate very quickly, and if we know it’s going to cool down in the next half an hour or so we’ll push through that period and then continue on into the cooler period.

“But if I know the temperatures will spike I would rather bring everyone in earlier rather than later. We want to have that little bit of flexibility for the players.”

Victorian Emergency Services Minister Kim Wells said St John’s Ambulance staff had treated 970 spectators for heat exhaustion at the tournament so far.

Topics: 10sballs, Australian Open, heat, Maria Sharapova, Melbourne, Simona Halep, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Vavara Lepchenko