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Frank Dancevic says playing in extreme Aussie heat “inhumane”

Stephanie Myles

MELBOURNE – Canadian Frank Dancevic held an official press conference at the Australian Open Tuesday after his first-round loss to quirky Frenchman Benoit Paire.

All he had to do to rate that kind of treatment was pass out on the court, in the extreme heat that gripped the second day of this Grand Slam tournament.

After feeling dizzy much of the first set, right as the time approached when the temperature hit its peak for the day – 42.2 degrees Celsius at 5:45 p.m. – Dancevic could no longer keep his balance, and leaned over the side of the fence.

"I saw Snoopy. I was starting to hallucinate a little in the first set. I thought, 'That’s weird. Continue playing. It’s no big deal to see that,' " Dancevic said. "It wasn't scary because I don't remember. I just woke back up and there were a bunch of people around me, a couple of doctors."

Dancevic was hardly the only player to feel the effects of the heat. Or the only person in Melbourne Park Tuesday. The sight of fans overcome by the heat being carted over to the medical services area was a regular one.

In countryman Milos Raonic's match earlier in the day, one ballboy was overcome in the first set, and just crumpled to the court. Raonic's opponent, the Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver, helped get the kid to his feet as the match was stopped for five or 10 minutes.

"On court it was a joke. The court was burning, burning hot. My feet were super hot. I think my feet were overheating," Dancevic said.

"I think it’s inhumane I don’t think it’s fair to anybody – to the players, to the fans, to the sport – when you see players pulling out of matches, and passing out. I’ve played five-set matches my whole life, and being out there for a set and a half and passing out from heartstroke I think it’s not normal," he added. "We're complaining to the tournament that it’s too hot to play. But until somebody dies, they’re just going to keep playing matches in this heat.

"I personally don’t think it’s fair. And I know a lot of players also don’t think it’s fair."

Dancevic had another issue, an abdominal strain he suffered during the qualifying. He said he played through a lot of pain in his third and final match of the qualifying round, and really didn't think he would get through that one.

A first-round Davis Cup tie against Japan in Tokyo looms right after the Australian Open; Dancevic didn't think it would be serious enough to affect his ability to play for his country if needed. He said it felt a lot better Tuesday against Paire.

Even Snoopy thought so.