{"id":187087,"date":"2025-10-09T03:26:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T03:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/187087\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T03:26:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T03:26:09","slug":"jessican-pegula-weighs-in-on-the-heat-rule-in-tennis-after-emma-raducanu-quits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/187087\/","title":{"rendered":"Jessican Pegula weighs in on the heat rule in tennis after Emma Raducanu quits"},"content":{"rendered":"

The swelteringly hot conditions in Wuhan have been a talking point throughout the final W1000 event of the year, with Emma Raducanu<\/a> among those struggling to deal with the humid heat in China.<\/p>\n

British No 1 Raducanu quit her first round match in Wuhan against America\u2019s Ann Li due to dizziness, while Jelena Ostapenko also pulled out of her opening match due to the heat.<\/p>\n

Now world No 6 Jessica Pegula has waded into the debate over the levels of heat that are acceptable to play tennis and she offered up some pointed comments.<\/p>\n

A heat rule has been used in Wuhan this week that kicks in when temperatures are soaring, with the roof on Centre Court partially closed to protect players and fans in attendance.<\/p>\n

Responding to a question from Tennis365 in Wuhan after her draining three-set win against fellow American Hailey Baptiste, Pegula suggested players need to deal with the conditions and have to be prepared for intense heat.<\/p>\n

More Tennis News<\/p>\n

Emma Raducanu forced to pull out of match amid worrying scenes in Wuhan<\/a><\/p>\n

Emma Raducanu had it \u2018tougher than me\u2019, claims former US Open champion<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think the roof situation obviously helps. It was super humid today,\u201d she began.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly wasn\u2019t bothered by the heat at all. It was just very humid. So I was just sweating a lot, but having that little bit of shade, I think, definitely helps.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other day was very, very hot. I\u2019m from Florida and I\u2019m used to the heat, but it was hot. I was feeling it. I think everyone who had to play that day was really struggling.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the heat rule went into effect until it calmed down? So I think it\u2019s just something that we have to keep looking at the heat rule.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe heat, honestly, is part of the conditions and it\u2019s part of our sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I also think, you know, a lot of these tournaments now that have roofs, like, they\u2019ll half close it, and it\u2019s kind of like, oh, well, like, is it an indoor tournament or an outdoor tournament? Or an outdoor tournament?<\/p>\n

\u201cI also think that it can get a little bit confusing when the conditions can kind of change drastically based on a tournament just deciding that they want some shade for fans, that can really change conditions as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I don\u2019t necessarily think it is always the right thing to do, or maybe totally fair as well, because at the same time, you know, if it\u2019s listed as an outdoor tournament, you should be ready to play in the heat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s a heat rule and it\u2019s way too hot and it\u2019s unsafe for kids and ball kids and players to be out there, then 100% that should be in effect. And we should just wait for it to get better.\u2028\u201d<\/p>\n

The debate over safe levels of heat for tennis to be played in has rumbled on for many years, with the ATP 1000 event in Shanghai also being played in brutal heat in China this week.<\/p>\n

Novak Djokovic<\/a> was sick on court during his hard-fought three-set third round win over Yannick Hanfmann and admitted he conditions were hard to deal with.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the same for every player out on the court, but it\u2019s brutal,\u201d said the 24-time Grand Slam champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s brutal when you have over 80 per cent of humidity day after day, particularly for the guys when they\u2019re playing during the day with heat, with sun, it\u2019s even more brutal.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: What Novak Djokovic said after health and injury concerns in Shanghai Masters win<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The swelteringly hot conditions in Wuhan have been a talking point throughout the final W1000 event of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-187087","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}