{"id":534,"date":"2014-01-15T23:09:11","date_gmt":"2014-01-16T07:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/66.147.244.209\/~canadiu3\/?p=534"},"modified":"2014-01-15T23:09:11","modified_gmt":"2014-01-16T07:09:11","slug":"players-reaction-to-extreme-heat-at-australian-open-on-day-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/01\/15\/players-reaction-to-extreme-heat-at-australian-open-on-day-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Players reaction to extreme heat at Australian Open on Day 4"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Photo by Neale Cousland \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MELBOURNE, Australia\u2014Here\u2019s how players at the Australian Open described playing tennis on a sizzling hot day when temperatures topped 43C (109F). By mid-afternoon, organizers decided the searing heat was extreme enough to suspend matches, sparking discussion about whether it was dangerous to have allowed matches since Tuesday when the heat wave started.<\/p>\n

\n

Maria Sharapova survived a grueling three-setter that lasted 3 1\/2 hours under the blazing sun.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no getting around the fact that the conditions were extremely difficult, and have been for the last few days.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said organizers could do a better job communicating with players about how to handle extreme weather, and how the heat policy works.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have never received any emails or warnings about the weather or what to do,\u201d she said, pausing. \u201cActually I did receive one, I think while I was in the ice bath a few minutes ago, and I was like, that\u2019s a little too late.\u201d She laughed. \u201cIt was a little too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Alize Cornet of France, who meets Sharapova next, sobbed after winning her second-round win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was emotional because it was a tough match.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI really tried to hold my frustration and hold everything I was thinking about during the match, and finally at the end I just let it go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova found Thursday\u2019s second-round win a little easier than her opening round Tuesday, when she almost vomited.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first match, I almost passed out on the court and almost threw up on the court. Today, it was a little bit better. I had a little headache, my skin was burning. It just felt really hot out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really tough to play your best,\u201d she said. \u201cYou get frustrated because you can\u2019t play your good tennis.<\/p>\n

\n

Varvara Lepchenko of the United States said her body broke down during her three-set loss.<\/p>\n

First set: \u201cMy legs, my arms started to get heavier. I couldn\u2019t focus at one point and started feeling dizzier and dizzier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Second set: \u201cI couldn\u2019t focus on my returns. I couldn\u2019t see the ball… Towards the middle of the second set, I started feeling more and more dizzy and … everything started going so fast….I started feeling really hot on top of my head. And then just at one point, I completely lost it.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the match: \u201cThe first thing I did was have an ice bath, then I also had a lot of water with salt. And I just laid down in the locker room for the past hour because I just couldn\u2019t physically get up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Thomaz Bellucci received medical attention before losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The trainer told him his problems were the same heat-related issues other players were experiencing\u2014cramps and dehydration due to the temperature.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what the temperature was, but it was unbelievably hot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery point, I was thinking to give up. But I was fighting to end the match.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Caroline Wozniacki played and won her second-round match once the roof had been closed on Rod Laver Arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really pleasant in there. It was humid but nicer than playing in that 50 degree (122 degree F) heat or whatever it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely better for the body playing under easier conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MELBOURNE, Australia\u2014Here\u2019s how players at the Australian Open described playing tennis on a sizzling hot day when temperatures topped 43C …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}