• Murray treated less than 30 minutes after winning doubles
• Not well enough to watch brother Andy
Melbourne will bake in 40C-plus temperatures for the fourth day in a row as the Australian Open squelches towards the weekend, grateful for a slowly advancing cold change, and Jamie Murray is relieved to still be in the tournament after collapsing with heat-stroke.
Cut down by the intense heat on another day of unforgiving conditions in Melbourne, he was not well enough to see his brother, Andy, play the Frenchman Vincent Millot in the closing night match on Thursday, but said he was fit enough to continue in the doubles with John Peers.
Less than half an hour after he and Peers had beaten the Australians Matt Reid and Luke Saville 7-6, 7-6 in an hour and 50 minutes, Murray needed urgent medical attention in the locker room. "It started once the match had finished," he said. "I had a lot of ice treatment, I was getting big cramps in my legs. I don't know what would have happened if we had gone into a third set but luckily that wasn't necessary. It wasn't too pleasant but it was good to get the win and I think I'll be feeling much better tomorrow."
The tournament referee, Wayne McKewen, did not satisfy all players with his explanation of why Thursday's conditions were considered difficult enough to stop play on nearly all courts for four hours from mid-afternoon until the start of the evening session, when equally oppressive heat the previous day did not affect the schedule.
"We reached a point where it was a good time to call matches off," he said. There was no "pre-determined threshold", as the organisers wanted to remain flexible for the benefit of the players.
"We all know in Melbourne temperatures can fluctuate very quickly, and if we know it's going to cool down in the next half an hour or so we'll push through that period and then continue on into the cooler period. But if I know the temperatures will spike I would rather bring everyone in earlier rather than later."
Maria Sharapova, whose win over Karin Knapp in three hours and 28 minutes on the uncovered Rod Laver Arena in mid-afternoon was one of the tournament's most absorbing struggles, said, "No one actually knows what that number is, in comparison to humidity, or the actual heat. There are just a lot of questions in the air."
However, Roger Federer, who breezed past Blaz Kavcic in an hour and 47 minutes under the roof on Hisense Arena, said, "I'm happy on a hot day like this. It was a bit humid. Overall it was really nice conditions. I got through because it's going to change from the next round on for us now, even though it's going to be hot [on Friday]. Today, especially at the beginning, it was very hot. I would assume they did get it right today."
Rafael Nadal also won without fuss, beating the 17-year-old Australian wildcard Thanasi Kokkinakis in an hour and 53 minutes under the roof on Laver. He said: "I was very happy to see the roof out there today. But it's still very humid, still very hard conditions even with the roof on."
Even Agnieszka Radwanska, who spent just 75 minutes under the roof on Hisense beating Olga Govortsova, felt the heat. "Today was really, really hard. Even indoors, it was ridiculous. Everybody is talking about it. We try to prepare for the weather, to do everything we can to survive, but it's tough. Sometimes you're lucky, sometimes you're not. You just have to fight with yourself and then with your opponent. The weather pushes you to do it." Reported by guardian.co.uk 15 hours ago.
• Not well enough to watch brother Andy
Melbourne will bake in 40C-plus temperatures for the fourth day in a row as the Australian Open squelches towards the weekend, grateful for a slowly advancing cold change, and Jamie Murray is relieved to still be in the tournament after collapsing with heat-stroke.
Cut down by the intense heat on another day of unforgiving conditions in Melbourne, he was not well enough to see his brother, Andy, play the Frenchman Vincent Millot in the closing night match on Thursday, but said he was fit enough to continue in the doubles with John Peers.
Less than half an hour after he and Peers had beaten the Australians Matt Reid and Luke Saville 7-6, 7-6 in an hour and 50 minutes, Murray needed urgent medical attention in the locker room. "It started once the match had finished," he said. "I had a lot of ice treatment, I was getting big cramps in my legs. I don't know what would have happened if we had gone into a third set but luckily that wasn't necessary. It wasn't too pleasant but it was good to get the win and I think I'll be feeling much better tomorrow."
The tournament referee, Wayne McKewen, did not satisfy all players with his explanation of why Thursday's conditions were considered difficult enough to stop play on nearly all courts for four hours from mid-afternoon until the start of the evening session, when equally oppressive heat the previous day did not affect the schedule.
"We reached a point where it was a good time to call matches off," he said. There was no "pre-determined threshold", as the organisers wanted to remain flexible for the benefit of the players.
"We all know in Melbourne temperatures can fluctuate very quickly, and if we know it's going to cool down in the next half an hour or so we'll push through that period and then continue on into the cooler period. But if I know the temperatures will spike I would rather bring everyone in earlier rather than later."
Maria Sharapova, whose win over Karin Knapp in three hours and 28 minutes on the uncovered Rod Laver Arena in mid-afternoon was one of the tournament's most absorbing struggles, said, "No one actually knows what that number is, in comparison to humidity, or the actual heat. There are just a lot of questions in the air."
However, Roger Federer, who breezed past Blaz Kavcic in an hour and 47 minutes under the roof on Hisense Arena, said, "I'm happy on a hot day like this. It was a bit humid. Overall it was really nice conditions. I got through because it's going to change from the next round on for us now, even though it's going to be hot [on Friday]. Today, especially at the beginning, it was very hot. I would assume they did get it right today."
Rafael Nadal also won without fuss, beating the 17-year-old Australian wildcard Thanasi Kokkinakis in an hour and 53 minutes under the roof on Laver. He said: "I was very happy to see the roof out there today. But it's still very humid, still very hard conditions even with the roof on."
Even Agnieszka Radwanska, who spent just 75 minutes under the roof on Hisense beating Olga Govortsova, felt the heat. "Today was really, really hard. Even indoors, it was ridiculous. Everybody is talking about it. We try to prepare for the weather, to do everything we can to survive, but it's tough. Sometimes you're lucky, sometimes you're not. You just have to fight with yourself and then with your opponent. The weather pushes you to do it." Reported by guardian.co.uk 15 hours ago.