tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/australian-open-2014-8491/articlesAustralian Open 2014 – The Conversation2014-01-21T03:33:21Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/221642014-01-21T03:33:21Z2014-01-21T03:33:21ZIt’s time for Australia to change its attitude to extreme heat<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39495/original/hf2jmq2c-1390268877.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4018%2C2658&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Barossa in January: not always ideal cycling conditions.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Dan Peled</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Complacency can kill. You would have to be living under a rock to be unaware that heat exposure can be <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-heat-can-make-your-body-melt-down-from-the-inside-out-22042">deadly</a>. Yet every year Australia – supposedly the “clever country” – endangers the lives of everyone from elite athletes to construction workers by making them work in the summer heat. </p>
<p>Sports schedulers and workplace regulators urgently need to take off their blinkers and confront our problem with extreme weather.</p>
<p>It is not sensible to schedule the gruelling <a href="http://www.tourdownunder.com.au/">Tour Down Under</a> for January in Adelaide. Likewise, the <a href="http://www.ausopen.com/index.html">Australian Open</a> tennis championship should not be held in Melbourne in January. This year, players have <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/tennis-sauna-heat-wave-hits-australian-open-21523537">complained</a> about having to play on in temperatures well above 40C.</p>
<p>Yet the vested interest in these major sporting events is massive. Given the involvement of television stations, advertising, flights, hotels, transport, security and the range of support industry staff, there is an understandable reluctance to interrupt meticulous plans. But is that worth the death of, say, one of the world’s top tennis players?</p>
<h2>Hot competition</h2>
<p>Athletes’ bodies are the tools of their trade. Sporting success and careers are built on fitness. Heat injuries can destroy all that. Competitions in extreme heat become a test of heat tolerance rather than athletic performance and skill. Sports professionals have responsibilities to their fans and their sponsors, so it is very difficult for them to withdraw to protect their health. Event organisers have a duty of care to provide safe environments so the decision should rest with them to modify events in extreme conditions. </p>
<p>About 80% of the energy produced by working muscles is heat, so without heat loss via sweating, we would overheat in about six minutes. High-intensity sports increase physiological heat generation 15-20 fold, and this extra heat must be dissipated to the environment via sweating. The rate of heat exchange on a hot day is poor, and when the air temperature is more than 37 degrees it becomes negligible, generating more heat load than can be dissipated and resulting in heat stress. It can be life-threatening, even for the very fit.</p>
<p>But it is not only elite athletes who are at risk; local club sports and recreational participants and organisers must consider the heat in planning their games. This includes prospects for modifying the activity, to provide shade and cool water, increased rest breaks, and altering the timing. Cricket is played in summer in the heat of the day, and each year players are among those who <a href="http://heapro.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/05/18/heapro.dat027.full">suffer problems</a> with heat.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39497/original/xzbwbsmc-1390270048.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39497/original/xzbwbsmc-1390270048.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39497/original/xzbwbsmc-1390270048.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39497/original/xzbwbsmc-1390270048.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39497/original/xzbwbsmc-1390270048.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39497/original/xzbwbsmc-1390270048.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39497/original/xzbwbsmc-1390270048.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Construction workers deserve protection from dangerous heat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pawel Papis/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Perhaps even more pervasive is workplace heat exposure. Many occupations must be done outdoors, or in buildings that cannot be effectively cooled. Some work can be rescheduled for the evening, but not all. Workers who provide essential services, such as district nurses visiting the elderly, put their own lives at risk on hot days to care for the elderly and unwell. Yet systematic funding cuts call for their increased productivity. Rarely do we see staff numbers being increased to ease their workload. </p>
<p>In the construction industry there are building contracts that factor in “rain delays”. Why are there no official “heat delays”?</p>
<p>My <a href="http://nceph.anu.edu.au/research/projects/working-heat-study">research group</a> at the Australian National University is currently exploring the effects of heat on health and productivity, with the aim of identifying safe working thresholds and developing strategies that help workers to acclimatise. “Heat-proofing” Australian industry will be vital in our increasingly hot summers.</p>
<p>It is baffling that a hot country like Australia does not collect public data on thermal tolerance at the population level. Australia needs seriously to consider heat and how best to manage it safely. The nation cannot afford to shut down over summer, yet killing our workers or tennis players is also not an option. </p>
<p>Setting safety guidelines on the basis of hospitalisations and deaths is too little, too late. These outcomes must be prevented, and collectively we need to start the conversation on heat and institute a culture of heat safety.</p>
<h2>The heat is on</h2>
<p>Despite Australia’s long history of hot summers, the evidence is clear that it is getting hotter. Globally, each of the past 13 years (2001 to 2013) have ranked among the 14 warmest on record. The warming trend is not unique to Australia, but have a head start because we were already hot to begin with. </p>
<p>Last year was Australia’s <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/announcements/media_releases/ho/20140103.shtml">hottest</a>, breaking the previous record set as recently as 2005 by 0.17°C. The Bureau has developed a new <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/heatwave/">heatwave forecasting tool</a> to help people track dangerously hot weather.</p>
<p>Hot weather records around the nation are crashing, often by unusually large margins, whereas new cold extremes are becoming less frequent. The past is quite different to today, and very different from the future. </p>
<p>A clever country would recognise this.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/22164/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liz Hanna receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council.</span></em></p>Complacency can kill. You would have to be living under a rock to be unaware that heat exposure can be deadly. Yet every year Australia – supposedly the “clever country” – endangers the lives of everyone…Liz Hanna, Director NHMRC Project: Working in the Heat - Health Risks and Adaptation Needs, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/221572014-01-21T03:12:18Z2014-01-21T03:12:18ZMad dogs and tennis players go out in the midday sun<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39489/original/nz856b98-1390267668.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australian Open staff and volunteers also suffered in the heatwave. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On days when the Victorian Health Department issued <a href="http://www.health.vic.gov.au/chiefhealthofficer/alerts/alert-2014-01-heat-health1314.htm">Heat Health Alerts</a> warning the extreme hot weather substantially increased the risk of heat-related illness and mortality, and outside work on Victorian construction sites <a href="http://www.cfmeuvic.com.au/downloads/ohs-alert/cfmeuv-30205-ss-nov-heat2.pdf">ceased</a>, the Australian Open Tennis Championships continued. </p>
<p>Players continued to play; umpires and lines people continued to officiate; ball kids continued to retrieve balls; the numerous employees, contractors and volunteers that make the Open possible continued doing their jobs; and the spectators continued to watch in the stadium. </p>
<p>The decision to continue play in temperatures that exceeded 41.5 degrees Celsius on four consecutive days (play only being halted temporarily on the fourth day) raises issues concerning the intersection of professional sports and occupational health and safety (OHS) law.</p>
<p>Under Victorian <a href="http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/Domino/Web_Notes/LDMS/PubStatbook.nsf/f932b66241ecf1b7ca256e92000e23be/750e0d9e0b2b387fca256f71001fa7be/$FILE/04-107A.pdf">OHS law</a>, Tennis Australia, the organiser of the Australian Open, owes its employees, and its independent contractors and their employees, a duty of care to provide and maintain, so far as is reasonably practicable, a working environment that is safe and without risks to health. Tennis Australia also must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that other persons are not exposed to risks to their health or safety arising from the conduct of the Open. This includes the players, volunteers assisting at the Open and spectators attending the Open. (Similar duties are owed in other jurisdictions.) </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39487/original/vb6tdyrd-1390267289.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39487/original/vb6tdyrd-1390267289.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39487/original/vb6tdyrd-1390267289.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39487/original/vb6tdyrd-1390267289.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39487/original/vb6tdyrd-1390267289.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=946&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39487/original/vb6tdyrd-1390267289.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=946&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39487/original/vb6tdyrd-1390267289.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=946&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maria Sharapova attempts to cool off during the Australian Open’s heatwave.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The decisions to continue to play, and subsequently to stop play, were made in accordance with the Australian Open’s extreme heat <a href="http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/event_guide/a_z_guide.html">policy</a>. That policy uses the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) to decide whether conditions are suitable for play. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.hse.gov.uk/temperature/heatstress/measuring/wetbulb.htm">WGBT</a> is the most widely used and accepted index for the assessment of heat stress in industry. It takes into account not just air temperature, but also radiant heat, humidity and air movements. Adjustments are made for things such as physical workload, clothing and work organisation. </p>
<p>The use of the WGBT is consistent with working in heat <a href="http://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/forms-and-publications/forms-and-publications/working-in-heat">guidance</a> issued by WorkSafe Victoria, the state’s OHS regulator. However, a number of other aspects of the policy and its implementation are of interest and concern. </p>
<h2>Does the Open’s heat policy meet OHS guidelines?</h2>
<p>First, the heat policy does not set a predetermined WBGT above which play must be suspended. Rather, the suspension of play is at the tournament referee’s discretion “when the WBGT is equal to or above the pre-determined threshold”. This is designed to give the referee flexibility to continue play in circumstances where the WBGT is expected to be at or above the threshold level for a short period of time only. </p>
<p>Curiously however, the “pre-determined threshold” is not stated in the policy. Tournament officials have declined to say what it is. Poor communication and a lack of transparency appear to have dogged the policy’s implementation. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39470/original/px7zdp9z-1390264820.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39470/original/px7zdp9z-1390264820.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39470/original/px7zdp9z-1390264820.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39470/original/px7zdp9z-1390264820.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39470/original/px7zdp9z-1390264820.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39470/original/px7zdp9z-1390264820.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39470/original/px7zdp9z-1390264820.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tennis Australia must ensure the safety of spectators too.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Second, the decision to suspend play is not immediate: matches in progress continue until the end of the current set. This results in play continuing in circumstances where the tournament referee has, for all intents and purposes, determined that the environment poses a risk to health and safety. </p>
<p>In one match, play continued for more than 50 minutes under these conditions before the set was completed. Luckily there was not a repeat of the 2010 Wimbledon Isner–Mahut match’s 70–68 fifth set, which went for eight hours, 11 minutes. But then again, workplace health and safety should not be a matter of luck.</p>
<p>Third, the policy appears to have been applied only with reference to the players’ welfare. As noted above, Tennis Australia’s legal duties extend beyond the players to include their employees, contractors, volunteers and the paying public. </p>
<p>While these people are not exposed to the same physical workload as the players, nor are they the finely tuned athletes for whom tournament officials have crafted the policy. (It should be acknowledged that Tennis Australia has taken a number of measures to prevent or minimise heat illness in these other groups including the provision of cool drinking water, fans and water misters, and protective clothing for staff and volunteers.) </p>
<p>Fourth, there are signs that the policy may not be operating adequately to protect against heat illness. In the four days of excessive heat, <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/tennis/australian-open-matches-heat-pullout-record/story-fnbe6xeb-1226802328409">nine players</a> were unable to complete their matches; one player hallucinated seeing Snoopy before fainting; and <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis/andy-murray-fears-tennis-player-could-have-heart-attack-in-australian-open-heat-20140115-30txd.html">others</a> complained of vomiting, cramping and other heat-related symptoms. Equally concerning are reports of ball kids fainting and more than <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/more-than-1000-tennis-fans-treated-for-heat-exhaustion-20140116-30xba.html#ixzz2qx4V5sGI">1000 spectators</a> needing treatment for heat.</p>
<h2>Should Worksafe have intervened?</h2>
<p>In these circumstances, it is reasonable to ask: where was the OHS regulator? </p>
<p>As was the case with the <a href="http://theconversation.com/time-for-ohs-regulators-to-get-off-the-bench-and-into-the-game-17039">supplements saga</a> and the Essendon Football Club, WorkSafe Victoria remained largely on the sidelines. Would this have been the case had the reported heat illnesses occurred in another industry? Is it possible that OHS regulators, like many in the community, see professional sports differently to other industries - that professional sport somehow is not work and professional sportspersons not workers? </p>
<p>Is it possible that they ascribe to sport a special social and cultural standing - a mystique – that minimises its exposure to the general law (as Professor of Law at Queen’s University Belfast Jack Anderson argues in his book <a href="http://www.hartpub.co.uk/books/details.asp?isbn=9781841136851">Modern Sports Law: A Textbook</a>)? Are they too deferential to professional sports’ governing bodies? </p>
<p>Today, professional sports are big business. Tennis Australia estimates its revenue and income in 2013 will <a href="http://swipedigital.com/tennis-australia/PDF/tennis-australia-annual-report-2011-12.pdf">exceed</a> $185 million. The <a href="http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/event_guide/prize_money.html">total prize pool</a> for the 2014 Australian Open is A$33 million, with winners of the singles titles receiving A$2.65 million each, and first-round losers A$30,000. Nostalgic notions of sport as being somehow different no longer apply. Our OHS laws do not exempt professional sports from their ambit; nor should our OHS regulators.</p>
<p>How best to manage extreme heat at an event such as the Australian Open is inherently difficult. The tournament’s organisers need to take into account not just the players’ welfare, but also the welfare of its employees, contractors, volunteers and paying public. The interests of sponsors, broadcast partners and countless other stakeholders also must be factored in. </p>
<p>The “show must go on” pressure is extremely high. In these circumstances, an active OHS regulator ensuring the right questions are asked and answered is all the more important, and would be all the more reassuring. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/22157/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eric Windholz worked with WorkSafe Victoria from 2001 to 2009, including as General Counsel and General Manager, Strategic Programs and Support.</span></em></p>On days when the Victorian Health Department issued Heat Health Alerts warning the extreme hot weather substantially increased the risk of heat-related illness and mortality, and outside work on Victorian…Eric Windholz, Lecturer in Law and Associate, Monash Centre for Regulatory Studies, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/220882014-01-20T19:34:58Z2014-01-20T19:34:58ZAthletes can beat the heat, even during an Australian summer<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39395/original/bxsyct5s-1390193707.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Shifting hemispheres? A good training plan must include time to acclimatise.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vox Efx</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two of Australia’s biggest international sporting events kicked off last week – the <a href="http://www.ausopen.com/index.html">Australian Open</a> in Melbourne and the <a href="http://www.tourdownunder.com.au/">Tour Down Under</a> in Adelaide – coinciding with a <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/heatwave">heatwave</a> over southeast Australia, where temperatures exceeded 40C for most of the week.</p>
<p>So is it really “<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/jan/14/australian-open-slammed-inhumane-conditions-heat-tennis">inhumane</a>” to hold sporting tournaments in extreme heat? </p>
<p>You may have seen <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25743438">reports</a> of players and a ball boy fainting on court. Canadian tennis player Frank Dancevic <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/more-sports/canadas-frank-dancevic-faints-after-hallucinating-that-he-saw-snoopy-in-australian-open-heat/story-fnibbyyv-1226802409203">hallucinated Snoopy</a> before collapsing at Australian Open on Tuesday.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39374/original/3kghs5k8-1390188789.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39374/original/3kghs5k8-1390188789.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39374/original/3kghs5k8-1390188789.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39374/original/3kghs5k8-1390188789.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39374/original/3kghs5k8-1390188789.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39374/original/3kghs5k8-1390188789.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1213&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39374/original/3kghs5k8-1390188789.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1213&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39374/original/3kghs5k8-1390188789.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1213&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This year’s Tour Down Under started in mild weather but the lead up was anything but.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Dan Peled</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Northern hemisphere athletes competing in Australia’s summer require at least five to seven days of training in the heat to become adequately acclimatised after living in cold winter conditions (not great for cyclists training before the start of the Tour Down Under on Sunday).</p>
<p>Humans have a remarkable ability to tolerate hot conditions, but most heat stress related issues appear to be the result of inadequate acclimatisation to the conditions prior to competition. </p>
<p>We’re not particularly energy efficient – only about 22% of the food energy we consume is used as biological “fuel” while the remainder is lost as heat. This is helpful for keeping us warm in cold conditions (a process called <a href="http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/thermogenesis">thermogenesis</a>), but presents a challenge when the ambient temperature exceeds that of our internal temperature.</p>
<p>Because our bodies can only tolerate a core body temperature within a small window around 37C, we need to achieve heat loss via:</p>
<ul>
<li>evaporation of sweat</li>
<li>radiation (infrared)</li>
<li>convection of heat to the air (such as a cool breeze)</li>
<li>conduction (such as sitting on a cold chair). </li>
</ul>
<h2>If you can’t stand the heat …</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39375/original/gjmytbd4-1390189083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39375/original/gjmytbd4-1390189083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39375/original/gjmytbd4-1390189083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39375/original/gjmytbd4-1390189083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39375/original/gjmytbd4-1390189083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39375/original/gjmytbd4-1390189083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1075&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39375/original/gjmytbd4-1390189083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1075&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39375/original/gjmytbd4-1390189083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1075&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maria Sharapova puts an ice pack on her head during her second round match at this year’s Australian Open.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Frank Robichon</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Athletes who will be competing in high temperatures as well as high humidity must become acclimatised to exercising in the heat, or they risk impaired performance or more serious thermal stress injury. </p>
<p>After just a few days of training in the heat, adaptations begin to occur in the athlete. These include a lower sweat threshold (they begin sweating from a lower temperature, and sooner), an increased sweat maximal rate, increased plasma volume (the fluid component of blood) and decreased concentration of electrolytes (such as salts) within the sweat itself.</p>
<p>Other preventative measures for thermal injury are regular fluid intake and pre-cooling methods such as wearing ice vests and consuming ice-slushie drinks.</p>
<h2>During competition</h2>
<p>When we exercise, the rate of biochemical reactions in our bodies are greatly increased to supply energy to exercising muscles. As a result we also generate large amounts of heat, putting pressure on our heat loss mechanisms.</p>
<p>During exercise in high environmental temperatures, there are a range of responses which occur in the body. A region of the brain (hypothalamus) senses rising core temperature and signals for sweat production to increase evaporative cooling and for blood flow to be diverted to the skin to benefit from those cooling effects. </p>
<p>The trade-off here is that this robs the working muscles of oxygen-rich blood flow and reduces exercise capacity. There is also a decrease of the plasma volume as exercise continues, meaning that blood flow to working muscles and other organs is further reduced. Dehydration can occur quickly if fluid intake doesn’t match these fluid shifts and losses. Furthermore, perception of effort (such as fatigue) is increased as the central nervous system heats up, limiting exercise performance.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39379/original/p6r6ybkc-1390190144.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39379/original/p6r6ybkc-1390190144.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39379/original/p6r6ybkc-1390190144.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39379/original/p6r6ybkc-1390190144.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39379/original/p6r6ybkc-1390190144.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39379/original/p6r6ybkc-1390190144.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39379/original/p6r6ybkc-1390190144.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39379/original/p6r6ybkc-1390190144.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Let’s not forget the fans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Made Nagi</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cycling vs tennis</h2>
<p>Different types of exercise also lead to different responses to heat. For example, road cyclists at this week’s Tour Down Under will ride at a sustained moderate to high-intensity effort, whereas tennis players at the Australian Open perform many short bursts of intense movement. </p>
<p>While these two activities may therefore seem quite different, the average workloads are both very high and crucially may last for more than five hours at a time, meaning that there is a good opportunity for thermal gain to set in.</p>
<p>A major difference in the rate of thermal gain is that a cyclist travels at higher velocity through the air relative to a tennis players which is a major factor for heat loss (“windchill factor” – think of a gym class with fans on versus off). </p>
<p>So while exercise in the heat can be a challenge for the human body, with some time to adapt during training, it is still possible to perform (albeit at a reduced pace) even in the most searing of temperatures.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/22088/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Trewin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two of Australia’s biggest international sporting events kicked off last week – the Australian Open in Melbourne and the Tour Down Under in Adelaide – coinciding with a heatwave over southeast Australia…Adam Trewin, PhD Candidate, College of Sport and Exercise Science Victoria University, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/220422014-01-15T19:15:04Z2014-01-15T19:15:04ZHow heat can make your body melt down from the inside out<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39075/original/d9qxc79p-1389747652.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tennis fans cool off at the Australian Open in Melbourne this week.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Joe Castro</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Just as Ray Bradbury’s novel <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451">Fahrenheit 451</a> identified a temperature at which paper self-combusts, the Australian Open has just shown the world that there is a temperature at which tennis players <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis/extreme-heat-proves-too-much-for-canadian-player-frank-dancevic-20140114-30t3y.html">start to hallucinate about Snoopy</a>.</p>
<p>So how hot is too hot? </p>
<p>Unbeknownst to many until this week - when heat-stressed players have fainted, vomited and even seen Snoopy on court, in what some have claimed are <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/more-sports/canadas-frank-dancevic-faints-after-hallucinating-that-he-saw-snoopy-in-australian-open-heat/story-fnibbyyv-1226802409203">“dangerous”</a> conditions in Melbourne - there is an established process for when to stop play at many international sporting events.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39096/original/f77m35tv-1389755952.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39096/original/f77m35tv-1389755952.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39096/original/f77m35tv-1389755952.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39096/original/f77m35tv-1389755952.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39096/original/f77m35tv-1389755952.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39096/original/f77m35tv-1389755952.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39096/original/f77m35tv-1389755952.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39096/original/f77m35tv-1389755952.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Frenchman Kenny De Schepper takes a break with an ice vest on his head during his Australian Open match on Wednesday.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Mark Dadswell</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The method was developed initially by the US military in the 1950s to identify levels of heat stress, to restrict activity and monitor required rest intervals and water needs for soldiers. Known as <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/info/thermal_stress/#wbgt">“the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature”</a>, it takes into account temperature, humidity, wind speed, and exposure to sunlight. When you combine all that information, you get a better indicator of how comfortable the weather really is. </p>
<p>The Wet Bulb Globe Temperature formula produces an adjusted temperature, one that is never as high as the number you get simply from measuring outside air temperature. </p>
<p>But even though that Wet Bulb Globe Temperature might look like a lower temperature, even a few degrees of heat can make all the difference to how our bodies function. </p>
<p>Put simply, if your core body temperature gets too hot, your organs will start to fail - and that kind of heat stress can be deadly.</p>
<h2>Eating and heating</h2>
<p>In order for our bodies to work properly, we eat. Those calories give our body the energy it needs for our muscles, organs and nervous system to work properly. The biochemical reactions enable that food’s chemical energy to become available for use by cells and they eventually convert some of that energy to heat.</p>
<p>When outside conditions are temperate, this heat keeps us at a comfortable core body temperature of around 37°C degrees.</p>
<p>As the external temperature increases, that heat needs to be lost from our bodies, which is done via dissipating it through our skin. </p>
<p>That’s why when you are hot, you sweat, take off layers of clothes, stand near a fan, go into the shade, you do less exercise, and drink water - all very good ways to quickly get the heat out of your core, through your skin.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39076/original/f894ctzn-1389747923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39076/original/f894ctzn-1389747923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39076/original/f894ctzn-1389747923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39076/original/f894ctzn-1389747923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39076/original/f894ctzn-1389747923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39076/original/f894ctzn-1389747923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39076/original/f894ctzn-1389747923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39076/original/f894ctzn-1389747923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australian Casey Dellacqua sweats it out in her first round Australian Open win.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Mark Dadswell</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But when this temperature gradient is reduced, for example due to an increase in temperature and humidity, your body has a harder and harder time getting rid of this heat fast enough. And it’s a poorly recognised fact that, just like paper, our vital organs have an equivalent self-combustion point - that is, a temperature that they stop working.</p>
<p>Once your core body temperature reaches 40°C, your organs begin to fail, and unless you get into cooler conditions immediately, you will die. </p>
<p>So how hot does it have to be to make your core body temperature rise to lethal levels?</p>
<h2>A few degrees makes all the difference</h2>
<p>Depending on a range of conditions, as measured by the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature, it’s commonly thought that <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/04/26/0913352107.full.pdf">your skin needs to be below 35°C</a> in order for your body to effectively dissipate the heat that it is producing. </p>
<p>This means that the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature must be well below 35°C: which fortunately, for the vast majority of the inhabited places on the Earth, it is.</p>
<p>Complicating this daytime heat extreme is a longer term factor. If the higher temperature conditions do not relent at night, resulting in a run of hot days and hot nights - also known as a <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/weather-services/about/heatwave-forecast.shtml">heatwave</a> - people will die. </p>
<p>That’s what has happened during heatwaves in many parts of the world over the last decade, including in <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2003GL018857/full">Europe</a>, Russia and the US. In many of these places, deaths have occurred where the temperatures are considered only “moderate”. That’s because people living in these regions have not been able to acclimatise to extremes in temperature, either physiologically or by taking precautions such as by resting inside during the heat of the day.</p>
<p>Vulnerable people, such as children and the elderly, are especially susceptible to heatwaves because their bodies need to recover in cooler conditions at night in order to prepare for the following day’s heat. So if night time temperatures do not go down sufficiently, the health problems amplify very quickly.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39101/original/nwxmtymp-1389757092.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39101/original/nwxmtymp-1389757092.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39101/original/nwxmtymp-1389757092.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39101/original/nwxmtymp-1389757092.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39101/original/nwxmtymp-1389757092.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39101/original/nwxmtymp-1389757092.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39101/original/nwxmtymp-1389757092.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39101/original/nwxmtymp-1389757092.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">South Australian police take their horses for a cool early morning dip at Semaphore beach on Wednesday. Tuesday was the city’s fourth hottest day on record, peaking at 45.1°C.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/David Mariuz</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Hot, and getting hotter</h2>
<p>Why would a climate scientist be thinking about what is ostensibly a health problem?</p>
<p>As the <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s forthcoming climate impacts and adaptation report</a> is likely to suggest, Australia and much of the rest of the world, is projected to experience <a href="http://ipcc-wg2.gov/SREX/report/">an increase in extreme heat</a>. That is expected to include rising average temperatures in many parts of the world, and <a href="http://www.cawcr.gov.au/staff/jma/alexander_arblaster_2009.pdf">more frequent heatwaves across Australia</a>.</p>
<p>What does that mean for us today? In less time than it takes for a toddler today to reach retirement age, the business-as-usual climate change projections indicate that many areas of the world will begin to experience conditions inhospitable to humans.</p>
<p>These projections indicate we must not only reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, but also be prepared to live in a more extreme world. </p>
<p><em>* Editor’s note: This sentence, “The biochemical reactions enable that food’s chemical energy to become available for use by cells and they eventually convert some of that energy to heat.” was changed in response to a reader’s comment below. The original sentence was a short, simple version of the food to heat process (edited down purely for length), but following the query from Terry Lockwood, author Donna Green and we are happy to make the change.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/22042/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donna Green has received research funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council to investigate the impacts of climate change on human health and well-being.</span></em></p>Just as Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 identified a temperature at which paper self-combusts, the Australian Open has just shown the world that there is a temperature at which tennis players start…Donna Green, Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC) & Associate Investigator for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Systems Science, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/212222014-01-12T19:05:36Z2014-01-12T19:05:36ZWhy some players can’t keep their cool when the tennis heats up<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/38700/original/7z2vstw3-1389219750.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A different type of Grand Slam: Carlos Moya of Spain loses his cool at the Australian Open in 2005. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Joe Castro</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the next two weeks, Melbourne Park will host the world’s best tennis players for the <a href="http://www.ausopen.com/index.html">Australian Open</a>. We expect the best to perform under the watchful gaze of millions of fans around the world, so why do some athletes take pressure in their stride while others seem to blow their top?</p>
<p>It’s a tricky question to answer, and could have biological and social reasons. </p>
<p>An area of particular interest to researchers is how players cope with stressful situations, or stressors, they encounter during matches, during training and outside of the tennis environment. </p>
<p>Stress is an inevitable aspect of competing at the highest level in any sport, but it is the <em>way</em> an athlete copes with these stressors which is likely to determine success. </p>
<p>Research <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1990-99065-000">clearly shows</a> that the inability to cope effectively with challenges results in performance decrements, reduced satisfaction, increase in the probability of physical injury, burnout and even sport withdrawal.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C8Nyc9jzSDg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A famous meltdown.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Appraisal is key</h2>
<p>The process by which tennis players deal with stressors they encounter, as well as the associated unpleasant feelings, is called coping.</p>
<p>American psychologists Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman viewed stress and coping as a <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books?id=i-ySQQuUpr8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false">dynamic and recursive process</a> – that is, a tennis player will appraise a particular situation in terms of</p>
<ul>
<li>if it endangers their goals and values</li>
<li>the potential to deal with the situation.</li>
</ul>
<p>This transactional approach suggests that coping might change in response to its effects on the situation. Coping outcomes in turn influence further appraisal, the person and environment. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/38510/original/8prgv6hh-1388985408.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/38510/original/8prgv6hh-1388985408.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/38510/original/8prgv6hh-1388985408.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=764&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38510/original/8prgv6hh-1388985408.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=764&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38510/original/8prgv6hh-1388985408.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=764&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38510/original/8prgv6hh-1388985408.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38510/original/8prgv6hh-1388985408.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38510/original/8prgv6hh-1388985408.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Serena Williams yells at a line judge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Jason Szenes</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A number of factors influence the stress and coping process. Our research at the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living (<a href="http://www.vu.edu.au/institute-of-sport-exercise-and-active-living-iseal">ISEAL</a>) focuses on how an athlete’s <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886909002748">personality</a> (such as mental toughness) and <a href="http://www.vu.edu.au/news-events/media-releases/sexes-cope-differently-with-stress-in-sport">gender</a> influences coping in the sporting arena.</p>
<p>From general psychology we know male and female athletes <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1612197X.2013.749004#.Us4htWQW1CQ">cope differently</a> with the same stressors, perhaps because females have a tendency to appraise a stressful event as more severe than males. </p>
<p>Higher stress intensity has been associated with the use of more – and different – coping strategies. </p>
<p>This makes sense – trying to cope with stress when in a high state of emotional arousal is generally not very productive. If you experience higher levels of stress it is beneficial to first lower those levels before carrying out coping strategies to solve the problem at hand. </p>
<p>On the tennis court, if a player keeps hitting their first service into the net it would be beneficial to analyse (as objectively as possible) what is going wrong without emotions getting in the way. This will allow the player to identify the issue (such as a poor ball toss) and rectify it.</p>
<h2>Why gender differences?</h2>
<p>Gender differences have been observed in emotional expression, social support seeking and socialisation. Females, for example, are <a href="http://management.ucsd.edu/faculty/directory/gneezy/pub/docs/gender-differences-preference.pdf">more sensitive</a> to external cues (such as other people’s behaviour). Two theories explain why male and female athletes might cope differently:</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/38820/original/327gwwhf-1389329421.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/38820/original/327gwwhf-1389329421.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/38820/original/327gwwhf-1389329421.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38820/original/327gwwhf-1389329421.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38820/original/327gwwhf-1389329421.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38820/original/327gwwhf-1389329421.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=945&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38820/original/327gwwhf-1389329421.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=945&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38820/original/327gwwhf-1389329421.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=945&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">French Jo-Wilfried Tsonga after making a mistake during a match in 2010.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Claudio Onorati</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<ol>
<li><p>Social (learned) reasons: the so-called <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/66/4/753/">situational theory</a> suggests that differences in coping are the result of the roles men and women occupy in society and/or the different stressors they encounter because of these roles.</p></li>
<li><p>Biological (innate) reasons: an example is females release more of the hormone <a href="http://psychcentral.com/lib/about-oxytocin/0001386">oxytocin</a> during times of stress. Oxytocin is associated with the down-regulation of the <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/s/sympathetic_nervous_system.htm">sympathetic nervous system</a> (which maintains homoeostasis and stimulating activities like the fight-or-flight response) and facilitates the <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/p/parasympathetic_nervous_system.htm">parasympathetic nervous system</a> (activities related to feed-or-breed or rest-and-repose). Higher levels of oxytocin result in a pattern of tend-and-befriend rather than fight-or-flight. </p></li>
</ol>
<h2>Practical applications</h2>
<p>In our work we have tried to examine the two different theories using a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1612197X.2013.749004#.Us4kGmQW1CQ">golf putting task</a> and using <a href="https://www.academia.edu/1822466/Gender_differences_in_Appraisal_and_Coping">questionnaires</a> with male and female soccer players. </p>
<p>We found that differences between male and female athletes are most likely due to the fact that they appraise similar stressful encounters in a different way, which results in different coping strategies. </p>
<p>From a practical perspective, coaches and sport psychologists should take into consideration the different way male and female athletes might appraise a stressful event. This will ultimately influence the coping repertoire required to deal effectively with stress and perform optimally.</p>
<p>When watching the tennis over the next fortnight you might want to observe the way the male and female players deal with the stressors they encounter (such as bad referee decisions and making technical or tactical mistakes). </p>
<p>The fact that there are few female John McEnroes might be due, mostly, to the gender differences in coping with stress. I predict you see more male players being verbally abusive than their female counterparts.</p>
<p>Maybe somebody can tally these and get a nice paper out of it!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/21222/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Remco Polman receives funding from Beyond Blue and the Australian Sport Commission.</span></em></p>Over the next two weeks, Melbourne Park will host the world’s best tennis players for the Australian Open. We expect the best to perform under the watchful gaze of millions of fans around the world, so…Remco Polman, Professor and Research Leader Active Living, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/215292014-01-08T19:22:09Z2014-01-08T19:22:09ZYou’ll never see another teenage tennis champ – here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/38559/original/v75rbwzp-1389066327.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Old is the new young, in tennis anyway: at 35 years old, Germany's Tommy Haas is still winning tournaments.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Marc Mueller</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Top-Players/Lleyton-Hewitt.aspx">Lleyton Hewitt</a> won the Brisbane International <a href="http://www.brisbaneinternational.com.au/2014/01/hewitt-stuns-federer-in-brisbane-final">last weekend</a> at the age of 32. <a href="http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Top-Players/Roger-Federer.aspx">Roger Federer</a> and <a href="http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Top-Players/David-Ferrer.aspx">David Ferrer</a>, two of the world’s top ten players, are over 30. And 35-year-old crowd favourite <a href="http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Top-Players/Tommy-Haas.aspx">Tommy Haas</a> still maintains a world ranking of 12.</p>
<p>And as the world’s top tennis players will again assemble on Monday to compete for the coveted <a href="http://www.ausopen.com/index.html">Australian Open</a> title, keen observers may notice a change. To put it bluntly, tennis players are getting older.</p>
<p>So why this apparent surge of older players? A study by The Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living (<a href="http://www.vu.edu.au/institute-of-sport-exercise-and-active-living-iseal">ISEAL</a>), The Australian Institute of Sport (<a href="http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais">AIS</a>) and <a href="http://www.tennis.com.au/">Tennis Australia</a> used 35 years of <a href="http://www.atpworldtour.com/Rankings/Singles.aspx">historical rankings data</a> to uncover long-term trends in player development. </p>
<p>The study aimed to separate the fact from the fiction in the discussion of how tennis, and tennis players, are evolving – and you might be surprised by what we found.</p>
<h2>A longer road to the top</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/38623/original/xyzgds9n-1389143386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/38623/original/xyzgds9n-1389143386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/38623/original/xyzgds9n-1389143386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38623/original/xyzgds9n-1389143386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38623/original/xyzgds9n-1389143386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38623/original/xyzgds9n-1389143386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38623/original/xyzgds9n-1389143386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38623/original/xyzgds9n-1389143386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Spain’s David Ferrer is 31 years old.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Ali Haider</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On average, the age of a top-100-ranked athlete has indeed increased, at a rate of around one year per decade, over the past 35 years. This sounds like good news if you’re a tennis player, but a closer look reveals otherwise.</p>
<p>Our results suggest the change is primarily the result of athletes taking longer to reach a top 100 ranking, rather than an increased total career length. Put simply, a tennis player’s “window of opportunity” for achieving a top 100 ranking is narrowing, and it’s the younger athletes who are being shut out.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2013/12/50/ATP-By-The-Numbers-2013-Part-1.aspx">Numbers published recently</a> by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) shows what effect this trend has had on the competition. In 2013, only four of the 64 top-tier tournaments were won by athletes under the age of 24. The average age of the current top 10 is 28 years.</p>
<p>So what does this all mean for our Aussie young guns such as <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-27/aussie-kyrgios-upsets-stepanek/4716310">Nick Kyrgios</a> and <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis/brisbane-international-aussie-teen-thanasi-kokkinakis-upsets-top-100-player-20131229-301rt.html">Thanasi Kokkinakis</a>? Well, basically it means a longer road to the top compared to those that came before them. The days of the <a href="http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/news/articles/2013-06-28/201306171371465623088.html">17-year-old Wimbledon champion</a> are behind us.</p>
<h2>Shifting our expectations</h2>
<p>The study informs the average fan as much as it does elite athletes. We often write off young athletes, whether it be in tennis or <a href="http://www.theroar.com.au/2012/04/24/poor-recruiting-decisions-hurting-demons/">other sports</a>. In Aussie tennis, no better example springs to mind than that of Bernard Tomic.</p>
<p>Tomic burst onto the tennis scene as an 18-year-old with quarter final appearance at the 2011 Wimbledon championships, and soon after achieved a ranking within the top 50. Unfortunately for Aussie fans, Bernard’s ranking hasn’t significantly progressed since. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/38443/original/d85pwzw7-1388639140.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/38443/original/d85pwzw7-1388639140.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/38443/original/d85pwzw7-1388639140.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38443/original/d85pwzw7-1388639140.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38443/original/d85pwzw7-1388639140.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38443/original/d85pwzw7-1388639140.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38443/original/d85pwzw7-1388639140.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/38443/original/d85pwzw7-1388639140.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bernard Tomic with the winners trophy after the men’s singles final at the Sydney International tennis tournament in January 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Dean Lewins</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bernard cops plenty of criticism for his stagnant ranking, but is this always justified? Where <em>should</em> a 21-year-old be ranked in the modern game?</p>
<p>It may surprise you that Tomic is still the fifth youngest player in the top 200. As previously mentioned, young athletes are far less prevalent in modern tennis’s elite group compared to yesteryear. There are only two players with a ranking in the top 100 under the age of 23 (Tomic and Czech <a href="http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Ve/J/Jiri-Vesely.aspx">Jiri Vesely</a>).</p>
<p>So its hard to argue that Tomic’s ranking <em>should</em> be better, given that he has already outperformed everybody in the world his age. Today more than ever patience is required, from athletes, commentators and fans alike.</p>
<h2>Should tennis be concerned?</h2>
<p>If you asked most people, they would likely say tennis players get a pretty fair deal. After all, athletes competing in this years Australian Open pocket A$27,600 if they lose first round!</p>
<p>But, the true story is <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/tennis/samantha-stosur-early-tennis-life-is-far-from-glamorous/story-fngme4jt-1226548495838">far less glamorous</a> once you factor in the costs. Tennis Australia estimates competing on tour costs about US$121,000-197,000 per year. A quick look at the <a href="http://www.atpworldtour.com/Press/Rankings-and-Stats.aspx">ATP prize money winnings</a> shows fewer than 200 players earned this amount in 2013. </p>
<p>The longer road to the “break even” ranking means it takes longer for athletes to become financially stable. Some tennis nations already have a problem with <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/tennis/04/14/roddick.american.tennis.williams.sisters/">retaining young athletes</a>, and the financial pressures faced by developing tennis players are partially to blame. </p>
<p>Its also harder for federations to identify the next top athlete, given the gap between junior and senior competition is widening. It’s similar to how the seven-day weather forecast is <a href="http://weather-climate.com/ForecastAccuracyMelbourne29June2007.pdf">less accurate</a> than the four-day forecast – forecasting further into the future is harder to get right.</p>
<p>Mathematics plays a part here as well, with the development of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1210166/">Moneyball</a>-type <a href="https://theconversation.com/numbers-game-the-australian-open-and-predicting-success-11442">prediction algorithms</a> at Tennis Australia.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AiAHlZVgXjk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>So if you get the chance, get down to the Australian Open and cheer on a young gun – their road ahead is longer than ever before. And don’t be surprised if an old head “who should have retired years ago” wins a few matches either.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/21529/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Bane works for Tennis Australia. He receives funding from Victoria University, Tennis Australia and The Australian Institute of Sport.</span></em></p>Lleyton Hewitt won the Brisbane International last weekend at the age of 32. Roger Federer and David Ferrer, two of the world’s top ten players, are over 30. And 35-year-old crowd favourite Tommy Haas…Michael Bane, Research Fellow, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.