I can't even imagine what those players are going through in that heat. Every year players are talking about the heat, but I feel like this year a lot more players are becoming more vocal.
Just read the following article. I find it interesting they give the ladies a 10 minute break.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Andy Murray said he feared someone could suffer a heart attack if Australian Open organisers insist on play going ahead in 42-degree temperatures in Melbourne, as they did on Tuesday.
It only takes one bad thing to happen. And it looks terrible for the whole sport
Murray spent only 1hr 27min on court as he beat Japan's Go Soeda 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 on a day when one player, Canada's Frank Dancevic, fainted after a set and a half of his match and another, Peng Shuai of China, vomited at the side of the court. A ball boy collapsed during another match and many ticketholders chose not to sit courtside because of the intensity of the heat.
The Wimbledon champion said the decision to allow play to go on had projected a "terrible" image of the sport. He expressed special concern about those players embroiled in five-set matches, or exposed to direct sunlight on the outside courts.
Murray said: "It's definitely something that you have to look at a bit. As much as it's easy to say the conditions are safe, it only takes one bad thing to happen. And it looks terrible for the whole sport when people are collapsing, ball kids are collapsing, people in the stands are collapsing. That's not great.
"I know when I went out to hit before the match, the conditions at 2.30, 3pm were very, very tough. Whether it's safe or not, I don't know. There's been some issues in other sports with players having heart attacks."
Murray, a logical man, dislikes it when officials seem to be making things up as they go along. But the Australian Open's "extreme heat policy" sounds like a fudge.
The guidelines allow Wayne McEwen, the tournament referee, to suspend play on the outer courts and close the roofs on the main arenas, when the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature - a composite figure that accounts for factors such as humidity and wind speed - reaches a certain level. But McEwen has declined to say what that temperature is.
A statement went out on Tuesday claiming that a "low level of humidity" had kept the conditions playable. Yet certain precautions were taken, including ice vests being sent to every court.
A 10-minute break was also allowed for female players who were required to play a deciding set.
This was another source of confusion for Murray. "I don't know why there's different rules [for men and women]," he said. "If there's a medical reason for it, then I'm fine with it. If there isn't, I'm not."
When the temperature climbs to 42 degrees, as it did about 5pm, plastic bottles start to bond with the courts and moths fall out of the sky, stone dead."
Read more:
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis/...n-open-heat-20140115-30txd.html#ixzz2qRTz3Pdq
