Tennis Star Daniil Medvedev Calls Out 'Dangerous' Conditions at US Open
One player is calling out organizers of the US Open after playing in the semi-finals in the extreme heat.
Daniil Medvedev opened up yesterday, Sept. 6 to a courtside camera in Flushing Meadows, NYC, where he couldn't find the words to appropriately describe the sweltering temperatures. “You cannot imagine," he emphasized. "One player [is] gonna die, and they’re gonna see,” he said, referring to the spectators, according to the Associated Press.
The 27-year-old managed to win his match against his fellow Russian native Andrey Rublev, despite crushing humidity and temps in the mid-90s, but not without using his inhaler and even checking in with a doctor, first.
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“At the end of the first set, I couldn’t see the ball anymore,” he admitted, also noting that his opponent was feeling the effects, too: “Wow. It seems like he cannot run anymore.”
According to the AP, Medvedev also felt dizzy following the match. He and Rublev each wiped the sweat from their faces so frequently that they rubbed their skin raw, which left him pondering the dangerous conditions, questioning, "How far could we go?”
He further acknowledged that it would be difficult to come up with a solution. “I’m not sure what can we do. Because probably we cannot stop the tournament for four days—because it’s been, what, three, four days it’s been brutal like this—because then it basically ruins everything: the TV, even the tickets, everything. It ruins everything. So I don’t think this could be done.”
Medvedev is all set to hit the court again on Friday for the next semifinal round, where he'll take on defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.
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