ATP Tour adds rule to respond extreme heat during men professional tennis matches This will allow 10-minute breaks during best-of-three-set singles matches starting next season and is similar to what was implemented on the women’s circuit more than 30 years ago.
The ATP board’s approval of the new policy, announced Monday, strengthens “protections for players competing in extreme conditions,” the tour said.
Advertisement
At the Shanghai Masters in October, some players asked the ATP to put in place guidance to help them in extreme heat and humidity. Defending champion Jannik Sinner stopped playing a match there due to severe leg cramps; 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic lamented the conditions after vomiting during a victory.
“It’s brutal when you have more than 80% humidity day after day,” Djokovic said then, “especially for the guys when they play during the day with the heat, with the sun.”
An Associated Press analysis in 2023 showed that the average high temperatures experienced at the U.S. Open and three other major tennis tournaments had become steadily higher and more dangerous in recent decades, reflecting the climate change who created record heat waves.
The WTA first established a rule to protect players from heat in 1992. The new ATP rule is based on wet bulb temperature (WBGT), which takes into account heat, humidity and other factors. When the WBGT reaches at least 30.1 degrees Celsius (approximately 86.2 Fahrenheit) in either of the first two sets of a best-of-three match, either player is allowed to request a 10-minute suspension of play.
Advertisement
If the WBGT exceeds 32.2 degrees Celsius (approximately 90 Fahrenheit), the match will be interrupted.
During breaks, players can change clothes, take a shower, hydrate or use other means to cool down – under the supervision of ATP medical staff – and they can also benefit from coaching.
The ATP said the rule was intended to “protect the health of players, while improving conditions for spectators, officials, ball handlers and tournament staff.”
Grand Slam tournaments set their own heat policies. The US Open, French Open and Wimbledon also have rules based on WBGT readings, as does tennis competition at the Olympics, organized by the International Tennis Federation. The Australian Open uses something called the heat stress scale.
___
Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis editor since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
