ITF responds to complaints from Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev, makes changes at the Tokyo Olympics 2020
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Tennis Court at Tokyo Olympics 2020
Tennis at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 began from 24th July and the by the end of the day, International Tennis Federeration(ITF) already had many complaints from the players about the playing conditions.
The weather on Day-1 of the Olympics was reported at about 33 Celcius and nearly 90% humidity during the day. In these conditions, matches were scheduled to begin from 11 AM local time which saw majority of matches played out in extreme heat and humid conditions and with hardly a 1-minute break between the sets, many players found it difficult to cope with the conditions.
World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev called out the break time ridiculous saying, ‘I think there will be a lot of cramps, and sunstroke‘ during the match. Even World No. 1 Novak Djokovic complained about the conditions as he also found it difficult to cope with the extreme heat and with the Centre Court covered half in shade and half in sunlight, the ball visibility also became an issue for the Serbian.
“These are the most difficult conditions I have ever played in.You feel constantly dehydrated. There’s no circulation of the air. I don’t understand why they don’t start matches at 3:00 PM. I don’t understand why the ITF doesn’t move the matches a little later,” said Novak after his first round match.
ITF increases break time for matches at the Tokyo Olympics 2020
ITF took note of the complaints and decided to make necessary changes. The break-time between set-2 and set-3 has been increased to 10minutes so that the players can cool down. The ITF has also decided to suspend matches if the conditions get worse to protect the players from the blazing heat.
With the changes put forth, it will be interesting too see how are they implemented as the day begins at 11 AM and with matches being best of 3 for both men and women, 10-min break between 2nd and 3rd set could not be utilised by all the players. However, with a speedy response from the ITF, the players will be assured of more amendments if the need arises in the coming week.
The Day-3 of Olympics will see Round 2 starting in tennis in both men’s and women’s singles.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)