Novak Djokovic threw up, Alexander Zverev poured sweat out of his shoe and Emma Raducanu quit her match with dizziness — and the bad news for the world’s top tennis players is that more baking weather is forecast in China this week.
Denmark’s Holger Rune called the temperatures of more than 30°C and humidity soaring past 80 percent at the Shanghai Masters “brutal.”
“Do you want a player to die on court?” Rune was heard to ask this week in the fierce conditions.
Photo: AFP
Twenty-four-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic on Tuesday labeled it “very challenging physically” as he battled the heat and an ankle injury scare to reach the quarter-finals.
The ailing 38-year-old crouched over frequently in between rallies against Spain’s Jaume Munar and vomited on court.
After one unforced error, Djokovic dropped to the court and remained splayed out as a medic rushed over, before regathering himself to win in three battling sets.
Photo: AFP
The draw has opened up for the Serb after world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz withdrew before the tournament to rest and defending champion Jannik Sinner retired from his match on Sunday with cramp.
World No. 3 Zverev was beaten on Monday, having had to pause during his defeat to change his shoes because sweat was pouring out of them.
Spectators at the center court wafted fans and wore cool packs on their foreheads to counter the humidity.
The main court in Shanghai has a roof, but it remains open and would only be closed if it rains — there is no forecast of that for the remainder of the tournament.
Rune on Tuesday called for the ATP, the governing body for men’s tennis, to introduce a heat rule at events such as the Shanghai Masters.
The ATP said in a statement that player safety was its top priority and it is considering such a policy.
Currently, decisions affecting play to do with weather conditions, including heat, “lie with the on-site ATP supervisor, in coordination with on-site medical teams and local authorities”, it said.
Conditions felt marginally less oppressive yesterday in Shanghai, but forecasts were still for highs of 29°C.
Temperatures are set to rise again in the coming days and peak on Sunday, the day of the final, at an estimated 32°C to 33°C.
France’s Arthur Rinderknech, who yesterday reached the quarter-finals, said it was not only the players that were suffering.
“It was as hard for the ball boys, for the umpire, for the fans, everybody was always like this — blowing air to the face because it was really hot,” he said following his 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) win over the Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka.
In the other early round-of-16 match yesterday, Alex de Minaur of Australia defeated Portugal’s Nuno Borges 7-5, 6-2.
The conditions are equally punishing a the WTA Wuhan Open, where the top women’s players are competing.
Temperatures are above average for this time of year in both cities.
The difference between Wuhan and Shanghai is that the WTA has a heat policy.
On Tuesday, former Grand Slam champions Emma Raducanu and Jelena Ostapenko both retired from their matches.
Raducanu had her blood pressure and other vitals checked before retiring with dizziness from her first-round match.
World No. 2 Iga Swiatek called on organizers to take player safety into account when scheduling matches on the outside courts, where there is no roof.
“On center court I think it’s a little bit cooler with the air conditioning and everything, but I hope the other matches will be scheduled at a time where girls can compete, rather than just die on the court,” she said.
Temperatures above 30°C forced organizers to put the WTA’s heat rule into effect on Monday, with play suspended on the outside courts.
The heat rule was also in effect for part of Tuesday.
The policy allows players to take a 10-minute break between the second and third sets, and means that the tournament can partially or fully close the roof over center court to protect players.
In the women’s doubles in Wuhan yesterday, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Jiang Xinyu of China advanced to the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-4 victory against Russia’s Alexandra Panova and Guo Hanyu of China.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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