WTA heat rule may come into play

30 June 2015 02:47

The mercury was rising at Wimbledon on Tuesday as the prospect of the heat rule coming into play moved closer.

But for Britain's Kyle Edmund, there should be no need for the men to have any such rule, which presently only applies to women players.

The women's tour, run by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), has a year-round system introduced in 1992 that allows for a 10-minute break between second and third sets when the heat stress index - defined as factoring air temperature, humidity and surface temperature - rises above 30.1 degrees celsius.

Readings are taking 30 minutes before play begins, and then at 2pm and 5pm, and the rule only applies to matches that have yet to begin.

According to Edmund, players on the men's tour, run by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), should be able to cope with all conditions.

He said: " Australia's pretty hot and I haven't seen too many stops.

"For me personally, I think it's sport. Especially tennis, it can be physically testing and demanding. That's why we put a lot of hours in on court and in the gym.

"I think play. But I can see why (the rule exists). It's obviously important for people to be healthy. You don't want anyone passing out on court. It's the last thing you want.

"Maybe it's something you've got to gauge. But I never thought about that on court. I think you're always just in the moment and you just deal with it.

"But I've never actually personally stopped because of the heat rule. I don't know what it feels like to be that close to stopping."

Temperatures were close to 30 degrees on Tuesday and were forecast to nudge 35 degrees on Wednesday.

The Australian Open has its own extreme heat policy, for when the temperature climbs above 40 degrees.

Speaking at Wimbledon, Maria Sharapova defended the WTA rule, saying: "If it does get quite hot for us, we're able to use it, then why not?"

Wimbledon's referee, Andrew Jarrett, said on Tuesday that the WTA heat rule has been implemented twice before, in 2006 and 2009.

Source: PA