NEW YORK — Soaked with sweat because the temperature neared 95 levels Fahrenheit (35 Celsius) on the most popular day at this 12 months’s U.S. Open, 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev walked slowly to towel off between factors of his victory Wednesday, seemed right into a courtside digicam and issued what appeared like a combination between a warning and a plea.
“You cannot imagine,” he stated. “One player (is) gonna die, and they’re gonna see.”
“The only thing that is a little bit, let’s call it dangerous, is that the question is: How far could we go?” Medvedev, a 27-year-old Russian seeded No. 3, stated after eliminating Andrey Rublev 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 to achieve the semifinals at Flushing Meadows for the fourth time.
“I’m not sure what can we do. Because probably we cannot stop the tournament for four days — because it’s been, what, three, four days it’s been brutal like this? — because then it basically ruins everything: the TV, even the tickets, everything. It ruins everything,” stated Medvedev, who stated he wanted an ice bathtub and one thing to eat after leaving the courtroom. “So I don’t think this could be done.”
An AP evaluation reveals that it’s feeling hotter and warmer at Grand Slam tournaments in current many years, reflecting the local weather change seen in warmth waves across the globe this summer time. Week 2 on the U.S. Open is pushing gamers to the restrict.
They’re utilizing ice — a lot ice, in plastic baggage or wrapped in towels — and courtside tubes blowing chilly air to attempt to keep cool.
Medvedev used an inhaler throughout a second-set changeover Wednesday whereas being checked on by a health care provider, who checked his respiration with a stethoscope. Rublev leaned again on his sideline chair as if he would fairly be wherever else.
“At the end of the first set, I couldn’t see the ball anymore,” Medvedev stated, including that he seemed throughout the online at No. 8 seed Rublev – his countryman, good pal and godfather to his daughter – and thought: “Wow. It seems like he cannot run anymore.”
Medvedev wore a white towel round his neck in the course of the on-court interview at Arthur Ashe Stadium after ending off the 2-hour, 48-minute match, which is comparatively quick for a best-of-five-set Grand Slam males’s match.
Medvedev stated he felt dizzy afterward and that each he and Rublev rubbed their faces uncooked by toweling off so ceaselessly. Rublev described feeling his coronary heart racing between factors.
Asked about his degree of concern on a day like that, Rublev stated: “I’m not even thinking about my health.”
Under a brand new rule adopted on Tuesday for the remainder of the occasion, the U.S. Tennis Association partially closed the retractable Ashe roof – usually used to dam out rain – to offer some further safety from the solar for spectators and rivals.
One unintended end result: The shadows could make it laborious to see the tennis balls as they zip by means of the air.
Zheng Qinwen, the No. 23 seed who defeated 2022 runner-up Ons Jabeur in her earlier match, stated that dynamic bothered her throughout a 6-1, 6-4 loss to Aryna Sabalenka.
Sabalenka gained 20 of the preliminary 24 factors to race to a 5-0 lead after simply 17 minutes.
She reached the semifinals for the fifth main in a row and can rise from No. 2 to No. 1 within the WTA rankings subsequent week, changing 2022 U.S. Open champion Iga Swiatek, who exited within the fourth spherical.
As for the climate? Sabalenka, a 25-year-old from Belarus, stated her coaching base within the United States ready her effectively for the warmth and humidity, which rose above 50%.
“I mean, it was hot, but because I did my preparation in Florida – I mean, what can be worse than Florida? I mean, in July and June, you know. Not, like, overall,” stated Sabalenka, who has dropped a complete of simply 21 video games by means of 5 matches over the previous 1 1/2 weeks. “So I think that’s really (helping) me today to stay strong and (not) really get tired because of the heat.”
She improved to 7-0 in main quarterfinals as she seeks her second Slam trophy to go alongside the one she gained on the Australian Open in January.
In Thursday’s semifinals Sabalenka will meet reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic or 2017 U.S. Open finalist Madison Keys. The different girls’s semifinal will probably be No. 6 Coco Gauff towards No. 10 Karolina Muchova; they gained their quarterfinals Tuesday.
Medvedev gained 9 of his 15 return video games towards Rublev, who’s now 0-9 in main quarterfinals.
Now Medvedev will get a while to attempt to recuperate.
He will get again on courtroom on Friday for his semifinal towards defending champion Carlos Alcaraz or 2020 U.S. Open runner-up Alexander Zverev, who have been scheduled to play one another Wednesday evening. The different males’s semifinal is 23-time main champ Novak Djokovic vs. unseeded Ben Shelton.
“Looking forward to the match tonight – to see it, and then prepare for the winner,” Medvedev stated.
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