Australian Open Medical officer defends extreme heat policy

Medical officer defends extreme heat policy

The chief medial officer at the Australian Open has defended criticism of the competition's "extreme heat policy" after Jamie Murray was treated for heatstroke.

Play was suspended on uncovered courts for more than four hours on Thursday as temperatures breached 40C for a third consecutive day, but Dr Tim Wood insisted the players' health was not being compromised.
"We evolved on the high plains of Africa chasing antelope for eight hours under these conditions," he said.
"There will be some players who complain and no-one is saying it is terribly comfortable to play out there but from a medical perspective we know that man is well adapted to exercising in the heat. Whether it is humane or not is a whole other issue."
At 13:53 local time (02:53 GMT) in Melbourne and with the temperature at 41C, the "extreme heat policy" was implemented, suspending matches on uncovered courts.
Play continued on Rod Laver Arena and Hisense Arena as their roofs were brought across.
The suspended matches resumed soon after 18:00 (07:00 GMT).