Tuesday, January 27, 2009

130˚F At Australian Open

What the fuck is up with the officials at the Australian Open?

I was up all night watching. The defending champion, Novak Djokovic, had to retire from the heat in his match against Andy Roddick. The needle on the thermometer on the court went past the top temperature of 60˚C. They were playing in a multi-million dollar stadium with a retractable roof...that they refused to close! How fucked up is that? I thought the purpose of a roof is to protect occupants from unbearable weather.

The Open isn't about who's playing the best tennis, rather who can withstand the heat.

4 comments:

michael sean morris said...

That is a little harsh, and it's not going to get better in the future. I suppose one of the players will have to die before they do anything about the situation, sad to say.

Anonymous said...

Hearing that Roddick's "staff" fought the idea of closing the roof, made us both wonder if the tournament is "stacked" for their favorites. LAST NIGHT, they closed the roof as SOON as S. Williams began whining............ YES, It WAS hot...and they KNOW JOKOVIC has asthma.....odd thing...

You are 300% right....WHY are building a retractable roof, KNOWING your tournament is in your hottest season if you aren't going to use it? Oh, but they DID use it just one day later for Ms. Williams....why? Was it because they didn't want their semi-finals to be ALL Russian women? Hm.
THANKS for venting, we did too last night.

Gavin said...

I remembered that you and Rodger are tennis fans. I thought of you and wondered if you were watching when I was...you have 3 hours benefit over me of watching matches at mindnight vs 3 a.m.!

I did see that they FINALLY closed the roof for Serena. There was some nonsense talk about the formula they use. I say if it goes over 100˚, close the roof!

Serena is my favorite player, and she'd be perfect if she didn't thank her "God Jehovah" when she wins her matches.

rodger said...

My favorite comment from Serena was when asked if she went door to door doing missionary work for the church. Her response was "I do passive missionary work due to my busy schedule".

I wonder if that means she pays someone to do it for her?