‘You want a player to die?’ Heat is on tennis after players wilt in extreme conditions | Tennis

JAnnik Sinner had tried everything, but after cooking for two and a half hours inside the suffocating sauna of the Shanghai stadium courtyard, he finished. Even around midnight, the humidity was still so oppressive that the sinner had spent the last 20 minutes of his third round match against Tallon Griekspoor cramps, breathless and in considerable pain. Finally, he couldn’t even walk properly. Halfway through the final set, the 24-year-old slowly hampered his chair using his racket like a crutch and finished the match.

These scenes were representative of the Masters of Shanghai insofar as, throughout last week, many players spread in brutal conditions. Terence Atmane and Hamad Meddovic both retired after struggling with heat. Francisco Comesaña appeared close to collapsing and he had to be helped in mid-match by his opponent Lorenzo Musetti. Despite the advantage of the competition at night, Novak Djokovic vomited several times in two consecutive games and there were moments in his fourth round victory over Jaume Munar where he also seemed to have reached his limit.

Five hundred kilometers away in Wuhan, the weather was also difficult for the best players. Emma Raducanu and Jelena Ostapenko both retired in hot and humid conditions. In addition to a social media video that showed him the perspiration of his socks, Bianca Andreescu wrote: “Wuhan Weather really said:” Go play tennis in a sauna. “”

As surprising as these scenes have been, it is hardly an unexplored territory. Each year, players are pushed to their limits in a sport that pursues the sun. However, tennis failed to guarantee players’ safety by attacking the danger of competing in such extreme conditions.

The blatant problem was illustrated by Holger Rune during his medical time on weekends. Speaking with Gerry Armstrong, one of the ATP supervisors in Shanghai, Rune asked: “Why does ATP not have a heat rule? Do you want a player to die on the field?”

While the Grand Chelem and WTA tournaments have extreme heat policies, ATP still does not do it. ATP entrusts supervisors, in coordination with its medical staff, to manage players in stifling conditions. As such, Armstrong’s response to Rune was even more overwhelming: “I don’t know, it’s a good question,” he said.

In a press release, an ATP representative said: “Under ATP rules, decisions concerning the suspension of the game due to weather conditions – including extreme heat – resident with the ATP supervisor on site, in coordination with the medical teams on site and local authorities. In parallel, the ATP medical services team implements several measures in the event of extreme heat, to protect the health of players during the competition.

“This remains under active review and additional measures, including the implementation of an official heat policy, are currently being evaluated with players, tournaments and medical experts. Player safety remains an absolute priority for ATP. “”

In a well governed sport, an extreme standardized heat policy in all tournaments would have already existed for a long time. Tennis, however, is divided uncomfortably between the four Grand Chelem tournaments, ATP, WTA and ITF, organizations which are often too focused on protecting their own interests.

Simply a month ago, players also had trouble in hot and humid conditions for two weeks at the Cincinnati Open before the tournament ends with the retired sinner against Carlos Alcaraz in the final due to the disease. Global heating will only lead to new difficulties, so the guiding bodies should already study how to adapt the calendar to avoid these unbearable conditions.

This is a difficult subject since physical preparation and endurance is a key element of the excellent at the top of sport. Elite players are proud to be able to manage the elements and find a path. However, everyone has a limit.

“I think there should be a kind of rule,” Rune said on Tuesday. “We can manage a certain warmth because we are in good shape, we are strong, we are also mentally strong, but there is always a limit. I think it is also important to take care of your health. We have to survive. “

There are smaller changes to consider. Back in Cincinnati, while the heat was wreaking havoc on the tournament, Iga Swiatek said that she would like to see more flexibility with the time limit between the hottest points: “This kind of heat is like something we just need to survive, and it is not as if we cannot,” she said. “Maybe give us five seconds more to use the towel or to have more time to breathe, because it’s a little more difficult, would be good.”

This last issue of Heat Extreme management arrives at the end of another long exhausting season, and the well-being of players was an important subject of discussion.

The number of withdrawals, withdrawals and injuries this year has been shocking. With seven withdrawals or walks at the Shanghai Masters during last week, there have now been 41 retreats and walks during the ATP Masters 1000 events this year, including nine in Madrid and eight in Cincinnati.

Last Monday at the China Open in Beijing, a combined WTA 1000 and ATP 500 event, five of the 12 games ended with retirement. This does not even take into account injuries, physical pain and mental tension that many players on both tours continue to pass. It is increasingly difficult to argue that visits have done enough to prioritize the well-being of players.

The duration of the tennis season has been an important subject of discussion for decades with a minimum change, but recent initiatives for ATP and WTA tours do not seem to accentuate these problems.

Over the past two years, the WTA has promulgated stricter planning orders for its best players and there is an increasing consensus that the ATP-based thrust to extend so many ATP and WTA 1000 events in prolonged two weeks has taken place at the prices of the players themselves. With even more “days” in tournaments and more time far from home, their increasing physical and mental difficulties are clear.

In the last weeks of another campaign, while injuries are accumulating and few competitors seem satisfied, it seems that the tour reaches the point of rupture. It is not yet clear, however, if the guiding bodies are ready to recognize these problems and take significant measures to repair them.