The Australian Open tennis tournament is one of 4 of the prestigious Grand Slam tournaments along with, The French Open, The US Open and Wimbledon. Though athletes endure games that are played in other then ideal circumstances all the time, nothing compares to playing in the heat that is happening in Melbourne now. The city is enduring temperatures around 110 degrees for several days with no relief in sight. Climatologists say that 2013 was the hottest year on record and that heat waves will only double as time moves on.
The BBC reports:
Australian Open organisers said their extreme heat policy was in force, with matches on outside courts being suspended at the end of their sets.
Matches at Rod Laver Arena and Hisense Arena would continue with a closed roof, they said in a statement.
Tournament officials say temperature, wind direction and humidity are taken into account when implementing the extreme heat policy.
The announcement came mid-afternoon with the hottest part of the day approaching, the BBC's Jon Donnison in Melbourne reports.
On Tuesday, a tennis player and a ball boy fainted in the heat during the tournament. Organisers were criticised for allowing the tournament to continue.
Melbourne resident James Hickey told the BBC: "The past couple of nights have been insanely hot."
"In my suburb of Brunswick we lost power for about three hours on Tuesday night because it was so hot. The traffic lights were out, nobody could run their air conditioning or watch TV."
Meanwhile, an interim report from the Climate Council said the number of heatwaves in Australia was "projected to increase significantly."
"Both the duration and frequency of heatwaves" had increased between 1971 and 2008, it said.
"As greenhouse gases continue to accumulate in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels, more heat is trapped in the lower atmosphere," the report added.
"This increases the likelihood that hot weather will occur and that heatwaves will become longer and more intense."
In the South Australian capital, Adelaide, temperatures were forecast to reach 46C, nearing the city's record of 46.1C.
Victoria Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said earlier on Thursday: "A thousand fires have been reported over the past 24 hours and 39 of those are still listed as going."
South Australia fire services co-ordinator Leigh Miller said some firefighters had started to develop "heat exhaustion-type issues".
"Fighting fires in 40 odd degrees weather with little sleep is a real problem for us."
Forecasters say the extreme heat in much of south-eastern Australia is not expected to ease until the weekend, the BBC's Jon Donnison reports.
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MSN Weather
MELBOURNE, Australia — Just the thought of playing in the sweltering heat at the Australian Open is keeping Serena Williams up at night.
So to combat the soaring temperatures, the 17-time Grand Slam champion is doing her best to stay indoors, rolling through her matches as quick as possible.
On Wednesday, the American beat No. 104-ranked Vesna Dolonc 6-1, 6-2 and equaled an Open era record held by tennis great Margaret Court with her 60th match win at the Australian Open.
"I kept waking up in the middle of the night last night, just paranoid," Williams, who regularly trains in the Florida heat, said after dropping only three games for the second straight match.
"I just wanted to stay hydrated," Williams said. "The last thing I want to do is to cramp in this weather. It can happen so easy."
If the forecast of four consecutive days of 40-plus degrees Celsius (104-plus degrees Fahrenheit) temperatures in Melbourne proves correct, it will be the worst heat wave in the city in more than a century.
After two days of temperatures touching 42 degrees C (108 degrees F), the forecast is for 44 C (111 F) on Thursday.
That will make conditions brutal again for the likes of Maria Sharapova, who opens play on the center court on Day 4 of the season's first major, and top-ranked Rafael Nadal, who has a late afternoon match.
After peaking at 2 p.m. Wednesday, the temperature dropped significantly later in the afternoon, and Australian Open tournament referee Wayne McKewen for the second consecutive day said the low humidity made it unnecessary to invoke the Extreme Heat Policy.
Overhead clouds and the lack of a hot breeze made it less stifling than the previous day.
A Grand Slam record-equaling nine players retired during the first round, when some were describing the conditions for playing matches as dangerous and inhumane.
No. 32 Ivan Dodig joined the list on Wednesday, retiring with cramps in the fourth set against Bosnian qualifier Damir Dzumhur. Dodig created a stir when he was reported as saying he thought he could die.
But tournament doctor Tim Wood again said it wasn't hot enough to endanger professional players.
"There were only a couple of court calls today related to the heat and no player required medical intervention," he said.