(Twitter: @usopen)
There have been 12 heat related retirements here at the US Open, which has surprised some, including Roger Federer, who had some thoughts on the subject.
“All heat related? I mean, you got to compare with the right things,” Federer said after his 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 win over Steve Darcis. “But clearly I’m surprised to hear that players are retiring because of heat. I mean, if you’re injured, it’s different and all that. But I’m sure from the 12 or 13 players that have retired, I’m sure there’s involvement with heat.
“What I don’t understand, if that’s the case, we’ve been here in North America for some time. It’s not like, all of a sudden, hot. I mean, it was more on the warmer side, but it’s not like impossible, to be quite honest.
“Really no excuse for that. I think everybody should be well-prepared. I know we don’t play many best-of-five-set matches all the time, so of course the body can react funny once you exceed the two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half hours of play. Mardy Fish, that’s an exception. He’s not been that well-prepared because he hasn’t had the matches in his body.
“Other players, I don’t know where they come from. So there are exceptions to those players. Maybe some guys already came in too tired, whatever it was.
“I think you have to analyze case by case. But I think other players should be so fit that heat really shouldn’t matter at that point, the ones we’ve been playing in.”
Of course when your match lasts an hour and 20 minutes, you won’t get affected by the heat.
That pink outfit on the other hand…
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