Heat On Tennis Again
The hot, humid and hazy New York weather has already aced many competitors at the 2005 US Open Tennis Championships. Several players have already shown signs of severe heat stress, with Andy Murray vomiting on-court, Akiko Morigami taken from the court in a wheelchair, and Michael Llodra collapsing and taken to hospital. Several other players have retired due to the heat, while other matches have been delayed by players taking several injury time outs to try and cool down. Do we have to have a player die from heat stroke before measures are taken to stop this problem occurring?
The Australian Tennis Open is played in the middle of the hot Australian summer and is plagued with a similar heat dilemma. Tennis Australia has been proactive in their measures to protect the players by purchasing around 160 Arctic Heat Body Cooling Vests. These are the same vests used by the AFL, Cricket Australia and all cricketing nations, many countries at last years Athens Olympics and many other leading sportspeople and organizations. The vests are a proven method of protecting athletes from heat stress allowing competitors to compete at their best
While Tennis Australia are forward enough to take this proactive approach their efforts are restricted by the high profile sponsors who appear not to have the best interests of the players as a priority rather only promoting their brand. The vests are not allowed to be worn on court, unless of an emergency, because they are not branded with the appropriate name. The Arctic Heat cooling vests are an ideal application for tennis with their easy application, lightweight and the fact freezer chests are court side. If these vests were allowed to be used during an entire match we would not see the scary sight of elite tennis players wobbling around the court close to serious injury or death from heat.
Australia’s Nicole Pratt slammed the heat rule saying players should be fit enough to handle an entire match in any conditions. A fair point, but heat, and the type of heat, can affect people in different ways. It does not necessarily come down to fitness. Many differing sports around the world are played in hot conditions and most organizations and individuals now recognize that performance does not have to suffer because of heat; in fact Arctic Heat cooling vests are now considered a standard piece of equipment in the sporting kit. All these athletes are at peak fitness so this is not the cause of heat injury. Athletes are continually improving the tools of their trade with modern technology; the vest is this piece of equipment to guard against heat stress.
So we must ask the questions; why do we continually have this heat problem in a sport that is one of the highest paid and there is a solution? Is the sponsorship dollar more important than the athlete’s health and well being? Who will be the proactive player to lead the way? And when are elite tennis players going to step into the modern era, and like most other elite sports played in heat, protect themselves against heat stress? The heat problem can be effectively controlled I hope we do not have to experience the worst before common sense prevails and action is taken.
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