the heat is on

the weather has been freaky all over the world, but down in melbourne, australia, the heat is cutting a swathe across all the courts, and even with the movable roofs over the rod laver and vodafone arenas, players are wilting. or not. let's see what some of them have to say about the australian open's extreme heat policy:

martina hingis

Q. How do you mentally prepare for the heat?

I mean, you just have to be fit. I mean, there's no mental preparation. If you're not fit, you can't go out there and feel like you're going to make it easy because the heat is going to affect you no matter what at the end of the day. Sometimes the fitter survive, and you can see that in the matches the past couple days.

andy murray

Q. Did you see any of Alan Mackin's match? You must have some sympathy for him having to play in that heat, especially against a South American.

No, no sympathy. I think you got to deal with the conditions. It's not an excuse. It's the same for both players. You know, I didn't get the chance to see it because obviously I wanted to stay at my hotel. Obviously it wasn't on the TV, but I was watching on the live scoring on the Internet. Looked like he was kind of in there in the first two sets, maybe didn't take his chances.

rafael nadal

Q: Had no problems with the conditions?

No. That's fine, no? Is unbelievable hot outside (smiling). I prefer play without indoor, but that's it. That's fine. Most important thing is I won today. Always is very difficult to start one tournament.

roger federer

Q. Considering the heat yesterday, the heat policy, it came into question, the fairness of that, the well‑being of the players. Do you think that's something that needs to be reviewed and looked at?

Guys didn't go on court after that. I guess you're an unlucky guy if you have the match at 11:00 because it's not hot enough yet. I kind of agree with the heat rule. I mean, walking around in the streets, I think it's fine. But going out on the court, you know, the court, it gets so hot, like you can't believe. I mean, it's not only the heat from the sun, but especially from underneath. This is what's really killing the players. The feet are just on fire. On top of that, we have maybe, what, two events a year that are that hot. I think it's okay that you have a heat rule. It's an advantage for all the players.

Q. But is it fair if they've started, they have to continue on in that kind of heat, where other people don't have to?

Maybe they should give the choice to both players, if they want to continue. If both players agree they don't want to continue, maybe they can make an arrangement this kind of way. But at the same time, look, we need to be fit, as well. Got to bite the bullet sometimes. That's what happened yesterday.

---------------------
i got my own thoughts on this but i would like to see yours first. fair enough? come now, indulge me momentarily. :)