Too hot to handle? Players burn out under the scorching sun at US Open 2015

"It would be really embarrassing if I just toppled over here," Johanna Konta remarked after her marathon match against Spain's Garbine Muguruza in the 2nd round of the US Open last week. Konta, an Australia-born Briton, made these comments just after she had defeated Muguruza 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 6-2 in a match that lasted 3 hours and 23 minutes.

Towards the end of the match, both Konta and Muguruza looked drained out, clearly bogged down by the unrelenting New York heat. The first week at Flushing Meadows saw an incredible 16 players retiring from the tournament due to injuries; quite a few were heat-related ones. The highest number of retirees from US Open had previously been a paltry nine, during the 2011 US Open.

High humidity

While the temperatures at Flushing Meadows are currently hovering between the 80-90 degrees Farenheit (28-36 degrees in Celsius), high humidity has not done the players any favours so far. On Sunday, the humidity at Flushing Meadows was 84 percent, and according to American weather forecasters Accuweather, heat and humidity will only increase in the tournament's second week.

"It's a horrible situation to be in," Konta said. "It was definitely hot out there. I'm already a sweater [sic] so I was really perspiring. I dealt with it the best I could. I was hydrating," Konta told reporters after her match. On Thursday, USA's Jack Sock collapsed on the court during his 2nd round match against Ruben Bemelmens. Such was his condition that when Bemelmens offered him a consoling handshake, Sock couldn't lift his hand.

Unfair against men

So far, 14 of the 16 retirees in the tournament have been male players. The high drop-out rate amongst men has been attributed to the absence of a leave policy at Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the organisation looking after the interests of male tennis players. In contrast, the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) invoked its heat policy, which allows for 10-minute breaks between the 2nd and 3rd sets, during the US Open.

With male professionals are required to play up to a maximum of five sets during Grand Slams, as opposed to three in case of their female counterparts, ATP's non-existent heat policy seems a bit unfair to the men in the circuit. World no 3 Andy Murray recently offered his opinion on the issue, saying that set breaks were needed in the mens' game as well.

"You know, we don't have the luxury of having the 10-minute breaks, set breaks, when it's extremely hot and humid out there." he said. "I think, yeah, I mean, when it's extremely hot and humid, it helps to have that break. I don't know exactly what it's for. But I guess you get the chance to sort of go off and change, get under a cold shower if you want to," he elaborated.

No excuse for heat-related withdrawals: Roger Federer

Meanwhile, 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer has been less than impressed with the heat-related withdrawals from the US Open. "I'm surprised to hear that players are retiring because of heat. I mean, if you're injured, it's different and all that. From the 12 or 13 players that have retired, I'm sure there's involvement with heat," he said.

"What I don't understand is, if that's the case, we've been here in North America for some time. It's not like, all of a sudden, hot. I mean, it was more on the warmer side, but it's not like impossible, to be quite honest. Really no excuse for that," Federer opined.

Saying that players should be 'so fit that heat really shouldn't matter at that point', Federer further added that all players should be well-prepared for conditions such as these.