Over the last 12 days, the brutal conditions at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena have been a huge talking point as players battled through the heat and humidity.
There were similar scenes over at the WTA 1000 event in Wuhan, with Emma Raducanu among those forced to retire as she had her temperature and blood pressure checked before quitting her first-round match.
However, the WTA Tour has a heat rule, which means players can take a 10-minute break between the second and third sets in extreme weather. When the heat stress index reaches a certain level, play can even be suspended. And it was on the outdoor courts on Monday.
The Grand Slam tournaments have similar rules, leaving the governing body for men’s tennis as the only one without a set protocol. The players and fans now want to see something change.
“I think there should be some kind of rule. We can handle a certain amount of heat because, you know, we are fit, we’re strong, we’re mentally strong as well, but there’s always a limit. I think it’s also important to take care of your health. We need to survive,” Rune said earlier in the week.
And tennis fans agree, as a staggering 97 per cent of Express Sport readers said they wanted to see the ATP bring in a heat rule after all of the retirements in Shanghai.
But the fans also want to go a step further, as the conditions show no sign of changing in the years to come. To avoid more hot, humid weather, 91 per cent of readers suggested moving the Shanghai Masters to be held later in the year when it’s cooler.
That’s not the only change that tennis enthusiasts want to see. In recent years, most of the Masters 1000 tournaments have also increased in length and draw size, with 96 players now in the field and the event staged over 12 days instead of seven.
The Shanghai Masters has followed suit, but 83 per cent would like to see the tournament shortened back to seven days.
Although it would be a big ask for organisers to make some of the more drastic alterations to the schedule, the ATP appears to be open to introducing a heat policy.
“In parallel, the ATP Medical Services team implements several measures in cases of extreme heat, to help protect player health during competition,” the ATP told Reuters.
“This remains under active review and additional measures including the implementation of an official heat policy are currently being evaluated in consultation with players, tournaments, and medical experts. Player safety remains a top priority for the ATP.”
