Maria Sakkari said the sweltering conditions were great, Daniil Medvedev described them as the worst he had encountered. Welcome to the Tokyo Olympics, where one’s woman’s heat is another man’s poison.
With temperatures touching 32C (90F), ice bags and air tubes were the order of the day at the Ariake tennis park as players struggled to cope in the heat and humidity.
The conditions prompted calls, led by Medvedev and top seed Novak Djokovic, for a change to the 11am start time, which means most matches will be played during the hottest part of the day.
“I think, like they do in Mexico, the matches should maybe start at like 6pm because the heat actually gets much lighter,” said Medvedev, who edged past the 40th-ranked Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 6-4, 7-6 (10-8).
Medvedev, who fought back from 3-0 in the second set and later saved a set point, said it was “a joke” that the players were allowed only a minute at the change of ends rather than the usual 90 seconds.
“The tiebreak, I should have won it much easier, but it was so tough to play out there,” said the Russian second seed. “That’s why we had some errors, maybe some stupid decisions. That’s what can happen when it’s hot like this.”
Sakkari, the Greek world No 19, offered a different perspective after recovering from 2-5 down to defeat Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit, the world No 28, 7-5, 6-2.
“It’s great to play in these conditions,” said Sakkari, a semi-finalist at the French Open last month. “I grew up playing in the heat. Maybe not that humid, but heat is the way we grew up playing in Greece and I actually embrace that.”
Few shared Sakkari’s enthusiasm on a day when the tournament’s extreme weather policy was in force, allowing for a 10-minute break between the second and third sets.
Djokovic, who opened his challenge for Olympic gold with a 6-2, 6-2 win over the 128th-ranked Hugo Dellien, urged the International Tennis Federation to consider a change to the scheduling.
“I’m still waiting to meet the player that likes this kind of weather,” said the world No 1, who gave Dellien his shirt in the locker room after the Bolivian requested it as a memento.
“Playing in extreme heat and humidity that is 90% or God knows how much, it’s very challenging. Obviously it’s the same for everyone and it’s something we’ve known coming into Tokyo, we expected that the conditions were going to be very tough, but before you come here and experience that you don’t really know how difficult it is.
“You feel you have weights on your shoulders because there’s so much heat and humidity and stagnated air. You don’t feel yourself, you feel slow with your legs.
“I don’t really get why ITF doesn’t want to move the matches. This was the last centre court match and it was finished before 5pm. There is hopefully some kind of an understanding from ITF on what they’ve seen. All the athletes train and dream of being at an Olympic Games … playing for half an hour and retiring, you don’t want to have the Olympic experience that way.”
Such was almost the fate of French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who took a medical timeout during her 6-0, 6-1 victory over Italy’s Sara Errani. The Russian, who attempted to cool herself with ice bags and an air tube, was forced to stop after becoming dizzy and was still suffering from dehydration an hour after her match.
“I feel better but I have a massive headache now so that’s why I was trying to cool down after the match and rest, relax a little bit,” said Pavlyuchenkova.
The ITF said in a statement: “Great consideration has been given to the 11am or a later start. The decision to retain 11am was made based on data, a nine-day event and to accommodate factors such as local authority restrictions due to Covid-19 and the unpredictability of the weather.
“Extreme conditions will always put pressure on a schedule and make an optimum schedule challenging. Rainfall is as much of an issue as extreme heat. An extreme weather policy is in place. Tokyo 2020 competition officials have set procedures to monitor the heat stress index which determine whether play should be modified, and have implemented these procedures today.”
Iga Swiatek, who was handed top billing on the Ariake Coliseum court after Naomi Osaka’s opening match was rescheduled due to her involvement in the opening ceremony, marked her Olympic debut with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Germany’s Mona Barthel.
In the men’s doubles, meanwhile, Andy Murray and Joe Salisbury defeated the second-seeded French pair Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-3, 6-2.
“I think we have the potential to be a really good team,” said Murray, who will begin the defence of his Olympic crown against ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime on Sunday.
“We were well deserved winners today, we created lots of chances. But not every doubles match is like that. If we keep the same sort of attitude and prepare diligently, I think we’ve got a chance of doing well.”