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by Craig Thomas Perhaps the best known feature of the Australian Open, and that which seems to generate the most discussion overseas, is the extreme heat which often strikes the tournament. It is not uncommon during the Open for the temperature to reach 40° Celsius (104° Fahrenheit), and given the nature of the Rebound Ace surface the on court temperature has been known to reach 60°C (140°F). In 1997, on the middle weekend, conditions became so bad that several players were hospitalized and placed on saline drips after the completion of their matches. So far this year those sorts of temperatures have not been reached, though two consecutive days of 35° and 36°C were recorded on the Friday and Saturday of the first week. On Centre Court on the Saturday the court temperature hit over 50°C and David Prinosil, his heartbeat racing at 160 beats per minute during his match against Andre Agassi, was forced to retire at 7-6, 5-0 down due to heat stress. The Open has an extreme heat policy which involves closing the roof of Centre Court (and the new Vodofone Arena) under conditions of extreme heat (when the official Bureau of Meteorology temperature reaches 40°C). This has been debated vigorously since its inception. There has been some suggestion of late, coming mainly from the players, that the Open be shifted back a month into February. If the main reason for this is to give the players a longer off season break, then it has merit, but if it is designed to avoid the worst of the Melbourne summer then someone should tell the players that February is just has hot as January! What is it about Martina Hingis that provokes such odd displays of loyalty and support from her fans? Prominently displayed on Centre Court for both her quarter and semifinal matches this year was a large banner, approximately 1.5 metres wide and 2 metres long, with the headline "SMARTINA", just above the Swiss flag. Running down the left side was printed "HINGIS", with the following words running from each of the letters; Hip, Intelligent, Natural, Genius, Impressive, Sexy. In last year's semifinal, during a quiet moment, a spectator cried out "Come on Martina, my little honey crumpet!", and then at later stages of the match, twice more, the words honey crumpet replaced by "blueberry muffin" and then "strawberry shortcake". But it was her third round clash with Anna Kournikova in 1999 that provided the most inspired piece of work -- a banner which read "I didn't make a banner for Anna, 'cause I'm keener on Martina". |