U.S. Open: Players try to break the heat as temperatures climb into the 90s

On Wednesday, what may well be the hottest day of this year’s U.S. Open, the big American Mitchell Krueger sweated through two pairs of sneakers and five shirts in a five-set, three-hour, 59 minute match on the shadeless plane of an outlying court. Argentine Tomás Martín Etcheverry vomited as he closed out his own five-setter.

“It was tough, the heat and everything,” he said later. “It was a four-hour battle…Keep going, that’s the only thing I thought.”

Etcheverry looked surprisingly chipper after his four-hour, four-minute upset of Francisco Cerundolo, a fellow Argentine. He said he’d taken an ice bath and stretched, and would be ready to practice the next day.

With temperatures topping 90 degrees and wilting humidity that made it feel several degrees hotter, tournament officials implemented an extreme weather policy allowing a 10-minute break in between second and third set of women’s matches and third and fourth set of men’s matches. Normal changeovers last just 90 seconds. The weather rule kicks in when heat index gauges, spread out across the National Tennis Center’s courts, approach 87.

The National Weather Service also imposed a heat advisory on New York City. It recommended that people use air conditioning at home or schedule frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments.

Those luxuries were available only in strictly rationed amounts to the best tennis players in the world as they toiled on Wednesday. They made do with ice bags in towels draped around their necks, ice in bags atop heads and legs and the Open’s version of outdoor AC. Equipped at players’ seats, it blows air through an ice-filled cooler and through a flexible tube that players can aim at themselves during changeovers.

Ninth-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the man they used to call Baby Fed, had this advice about playing in hot weather after completing a businesslike straight set win in an hour and 45 minutes: “Hydrate, just hydrate.” Also: “At a subconscious level, the focus increases a little bit, because you don’t want to stay out there,” he said. “It kind of pushed me to play better.”

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After the five-set rollercoaster between Krueger and Jiri Lehecka – the Czech dug out of a two-set hole to take the match – both men were pink from the sun but said they felt good, considering.

“I’m from Dallas, so heat to me is not a new thing,” said Krueger. “But it doesn’t matter how many times you practice – playing competitive matches is never an easy thing.”

Krueger, a qualifier, had played five matches since last week.

“I feel better than I thought I was going to feel,” he said.

After his first-round match, a four setter that lasted three hours, 37 minutes, he’d sat for two more hours in the locker room. “I couldn’t stand up because I felt like if I stood up, I would be full-body cramping.”

Lehecka said he’d downed four or five liters of water and sports drink during the match.

“You can see on my face, the sun was just crazy,” he said.

But the heat hadn’t bothered him. “I feel good,” he said. “The hard work paid off.”

High heat and humidity are a dangerous combination for any human, elite athlete or not, said Dr. Chid Iloabachie, associate chair of emergency medicine at North Shore University Hospital.

“The body has a very robust and effective cooling mechanism, and that is to sweat,” he said.

Cooling comes not from the sweat itself, but from its evaporation. In high humidity, the mechanism can break down. “Even though you may see yourself sweating, the sweating is not enough to bring your temperature down.”

Steps like those the tournament already takes to help players cool off are crucial, he said.

“There should be an easily available supply of water,”  Iloabachi said.

There should also be cooling from fans and ice packs. Even short breaks in an indoor air conditioned space can help, he said.

One player claimed not only to thrive in the heat, but to relish it.

“I like it,” said 25th-seeded Paula Badosa, after a straight set win over Taylor Townsend. “Other players struggle a little more on that. When I see it’s going to be pretty hot, I’m pretty happy and I say, ‘Ok, let’s battle three hours.' I love the suffering, you know?. I’m Spanish, I got inspired from Rafa. I’m going to be there four hours, if needed – it’s just the mindset and the mentality.”