It’s 69 Degrees On Court At The Australian Open Right Now
Not nice.
The Australian Open is really heating up this year. Quite literally, that is. This afternoon, on-court temperatures reportedly hit 69 degrees Celsius.
Nice. Okay, not nice at all, but we had to get that out of our system.
It. Is. 69. Degrees. Celsius. On. Rod. Laver. Arena.
— #7TENNIS ? (@7tennis) January 18, 2018
The on-court temperature, of course, is the temperature of the playing surface, not the air around it. But the air temperature isn’t great either, sitting at around 40 degrees even now at 5pm. It’s going to get worse tomorrow, too, with a forecast high of 42 degrees.
If this doesn’t sound like ideal professional sport-playing weather to you, you’re not alone — health professionals have warned that the temperatures at this year’s Australian Open could have pretty serious health impacts on players, ball-kids and crowd alike.
Unfortunately for those currently sweating it out, though, it’s pretty unlikely that play will be called off due to a weird quirk in the tournament’s extreme heat policy. Basically, the decision to call off play depends on a combination of heat and humidity, and because Melbourne’s current heatwave is a pretty dry one, we’re unlikely to reach that threshold. In fact, the official threshold for stopping play has been raised over time due to controversy about stopping play, despite many players also raising health concerns.
Actually, when you think about it, why do we hold a professional sports tournament in January in Australia anyway? Ponder that, while you stay hydrated and sweat this one out.