We are into the third day of the opening Grand Slam of the year and, in theory, we should be talking about favourites, upsets, new coaches, impressive youngsters and the general excitement that comes with a new tennis season.
Instead, we’ve had a player faint and remain unconscious for a full minute on court, another cramp up and vomit, and a ball kid collapse and require medical attention, all because of the Australian heat.
Suddenly, what’s meant to be a thrilling tournament involving 300 or so competitive athletes has turned into an episode of Grey’s Anatomy.
Weather has long been a frustrating thing to deal with when it comes to tennis, but what’s more frustrating are Roger Federer’s comments about how handling the extreme heat in Melbourne is a mental thing, and is something you can survive if you’ve prepared hard enough. Tell that to Frank Dancevic who passed out during his loss to Benoit Paire.
“It’s just a mental thing. If you’ve trained hard enough your entire life or the last few weeks and you believe you can do it and come through it, there’s no reason. If you can’t deal with it, you throw in the towel,” were Federer’s exact words.
It’s a fact that some people can handle the heat better than others but surely it’s more about biology than psychology. Not everyone has the luxury of jetting to Dubai every year, spending several weeks training in heat and humidity the way Federer does.
The players who spend most of their season in cooler climates should not be expected to play through such severe weather conditions and frankly, Federer’s comments come off as condescending more than anything else.
When it comes to the weather, be it rain, or heat, organisers are always in a tough position and they frequently end up looking like the bad guys. They have to schedule 128 first round matches over two days with only two courts that have a retractable roof – Rod Laver Arena and Hisense Arena.
The 43 degree weather that struck Melbourne yesterday was forecasted and everyone, including those in charge, knew it was coming. So why were there no measures taken to avoid yesterday’s problems?
Organisers are saying matches will only be stopped at the discretion of tournament referee Wayne McKewen and that it’s no longer just about the heat, but about the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) which factors in the humidity among other things.
So according to the organisers, the humidity wasn’t too high yesterday and that is why matches weren’t halted. But considering the incidents that occurred along with the players’ complaints, organisers should take a more precautionary approach and not wait until a more serious medical problem arises.
It also seems that the heat problems have been increasing Down Under over the past few years.
Will climate change one day force the Australian Open to switch dates and move to a time with slightly more favorable weather? From the looks of it, that day may come sooner rather than later.
