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Serena Williams -
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A once in a century heatwave caused havoc at the Australian
Open on Wednesday, forcing tournament organisers to cancel matches
and invoke the extreme heat policy to protect the health of
players.
The tournament match referee Wayne McKewen ordered the roof on the
Rod Laver centre court be shut and all matches were suspended on
the outside courts as the temperature soared to a stifling 43
degrees Celsius.
The players were left soaked in sweat and gasping for air in the
sweltering heat while spectators abandoned the stands to watch
matches on television sets in shaded bars at Melbourne Park.
The brutal conditions proved too much for the swarms of bogong
moths that flutter around the stadium's bright lights, with dozens
dropping dead on to the main court.
The Australian Open has always been played in severe conditions but
organisers are on high alert this year after the Bureau of
Meteorology forecast six consecutive days of 40 degrees
temperatures in Melbourne.
Suburban train tracks reportedly began to buckle, race meetings
were cancelled and ambulance crews were run off their feet treating
people suffering heat stress.
HELD UP
The defending men's champion Novak Djokovic quit his fourth-round
match against Andy Roddick on Tuesday after wilting in the heat
while Victoria Azarenka almost fainted from exhaustion in her
fourth-round match.
Wednesday's quarter-final between Serena Williams and Svetlana
Kuznetsova was held up for almost 45 minutes between the first and
second sets while the centre court roof was closed.
"It was really an out of body experience. I felt I was watching
someone play in a blue dress and it wasn't me," Williams told
reporters.
"I kept trying to tell myself that it's not hot, but it got
hotter."
"It was so hot that my rackets lost all tension. I had to string
'em way tighter than normal for my ball to stay in the
court."
Russia's Elena Dementieva was less fortunate, made to play her
quarter-final against Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain with the roof
still open.
The temperature at that stage was just approaching 40 degrees and
although Dementieva won 6-2 6-2 she said the roof should have
already been shut.
"I'm really surprised, you know, 'cause when you see the forecast,
it was going to be 41 today," she said.
"I think if you have a roof, why not use it? Not only for the
players, but for the spectators as well."
Rod Laver himself agreed: "They say we're going to have this sort
of heat for the next three days, why not just close it right now
and leave it closed?" he told reporters.
"It's just wonderful that they have a roof they can close, so take
advantage of it."
Organisers use a complicated formula that combines the air
temperature, wind, solar radiation and humidity before deciding
when to invoke the extreme heat policy.
Apart from closing the roof and suspending play on outside courts,
the policy also allows players to use ice vests and have extended
breaks between sets.
