The director of the Australian Open has insisted that it was right for the tournament to continue play as temperatures soared to 40 degrees.
Melbourne is currently in the middle of a heat wave with players battling it out in the extreme conditions. Yesterday Gael Monfils was seen suffering during his second round clash against Novak Djokovic, who also described the conditions as ‘brutal.’ During the match, the Frenchman said that he might collapse and requested the umpire to not enforce the 25-second rule between points. Monfils later said ‘he took a risk’ by playing in the heat.
Craig Tiley, who is the director of the tournament, has played down the criticism. The Australian Open has a excessive heat policy, which stops play. It is enforced upon the discretion of the referee and if the temperature meets their guidelines. The policy is followed once the ambient temperature exceeds 40 degrees Celsius and the Wet Bulb Global Temperature reading exceeds 32.5 C.
“We are, at the end of the day, an outdoor event.” Said Tiley.
“We want it to stay an outdoor event as long as possible but at the same time ensuring that the health and wellbeing of players is taken care of.”
Despite Tiley’s comments, some players expressed their concerns on Friday. Alize Cornet fainted during her match against Mertens and received medical attention. The French player crashed out in straight sets. After the match, Cornet has slammed that tournament for allowing play. Arguing that it is ‘dangerous’ for players.
“Playing at this time was probably the worst time of the day,” She said.
“I kind of felt that I could faint at any moment.”
”I think it could be dangerous, but I think that the fact the doctor came on the court and took my blood pressure and she was looking if I was feeling good enough to keep playing the match … They are very careful about that.
”But still, you know, playing in this condition is of course very dangerous for the health of the player.”
The brutal 42°C heat really took it’s toll on Alize Cornet during her defeat to Elise Mertens pic.twitter.com/Vxy9dH0Bbw
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) 19 January 2018
Petra Martic, who is through to the fourth round in Melbourne for the first time in her career, described the conditions as ‘ugly.’ The Croat battled it out for almost two hours during one of the hottest points of the day.
“I think we were lucky to play on Rod Laver because we had some shade behind so you could hide for a few seconds in between the points.” She said.
“Other than that, you just need to be mentally tough and ready to just suffer out there and try to make it through.”
Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund wasn’t too bothered by the weather. Despite admitting that it was ‘tough,’ the 23-year-old believes it is up to the players themselves to cope. Edmund was on the court for more than three-and-a-half hours.
“It was tough out there. Like I said, it drains your energy, zaps the energy out of you.” He said.
“To repeat and repeat and repeat, it’s tough. You just, best way to do it, I find, is just to manage yourself.”
Grigor Dimitrov backed up the comments from the British player by saying he ‘was not scared’ of the heat following his win over Andrey Rublev.
The weather in Melbourne is forecasted to drop back into the 20s over the weekend.
