Tennist’s retirement Jannik Sinner after just 23 minutes from the start of the Cincinnati Masters 1000 final against Carlos Alcaraz. The South Tyrolean, outgoing champion, retired after only five games, on the result of 0-5 in the first set in favor of the Spanish rival, due to an malaise that he himself mentioned in the speech during the award ceremony, apologizing to the public of the Ohio plant: “I’m very sorry to disappoint you. Since yesterday I didn’t feel well. I hoped to improve during the night, but instead I got worse. I tried to take the field and give at least my little contribution, but I didn’t make it to resist more. I really sorry for all of you. I know some of you maybe today, on Monday, they had the job or other commitments, so I’m very sorry”. At the press conference, the student of Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill added that he will take a couple of days of rest in view of the last seasonal Slam, the US Open, effectively confirming his absence at the double-mixed double-day tournament in New York to which he should have taken part on Tuesday with the Czech Siniakova. Let’s try to clarify the conditions of Sinner and why he raised the white flag in the final in Cincinnati.
Because Sinner retired to Cincinnati in the final against Alcaraz
“Sorry, I can’t do it. I feel too bad, I can’t move …”. With these words to the physiotherapist called on the field on 0-5, Jannik Sinner has decided to retire from the Cincinnati final. According to reports from Eurosport Italyit was a flu problem that struck him in the day before the final. The blue entered the feverish field, with a body temperature around 38 ° C. Hence the impossibility of competing at the best against an opponent such as Carlos Alcaraz and on another day of typical summer heat and humidity in Ohio, with the match at the start at 3 pm.
The heat and the heat are, in fact, the constants of the American tournament, spent at 12 days with a new final on Monday from the edition of this year. The most attentive will have noticed that Sinner had already given signs of malaise at the beginning of the second set of the semifinal (won) against Atmane: difficulty breathing and then moved over then with the passing of the minutes. “It was one of the hottest tournaments that I have ever played” He said n ° 1 in the world before leaving the word in Alcaraz during the award ceremony. It is very likely that Cincinnati’s limit conditions were a cause of Sinner’s influenza state of the influenza state which is only the last of the victims of the extreme heat.
Cincinnati tournament and record of retreats for the heat
The balance of retreats in the two singles of Cincinnati’s singles is record: 11 in total (Davidovich Fokina, Carabelli, Darderi, Rinderknech, Mensik, Khachanov, Sinner for the men’s and Jeanjean, Osorio, Kostyuk and Yastremska for the female) with the No. 3 of the world, the German Sascha Zverev, who efforts and with different moments of difficulty, thanks to his coexistence with diabetes, dragged himself until the end of the semifinal with Alcaraz. In the second week of tournament the temperatures exceeded 35 ° C.
In Cincinnati it has been played in tennis since 1899 (only the US Open are an older tournament), but the seventh Masters 1000 of the season could be at risk: a new study says that the tournament that bases in Ohio is one of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Almost 49% of matches could be canceled by 2026 because of the extreme heat. By 2033, this percentage will rise to 50.31% and by the end of the century it will exceed even 63%. In addition, the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Cincinnati has concrete fields considered among the hottest of all the game surfaces since they retain the heat more. Studies show that the temperature on the field can be from 7 to 9 degrees higher than the external one.
Extreme heat in tennis: there is no uniformity in the regulations
One of the problems of the current tennis system is the lack, at the male level, of a specific rule for the extreme heat. The WTA, the association of female tennis, on the contrary, in its RuleBook provides for clear protocols to protect athletes. The basic rule consists of a 10 -minute break between the second and third set in case of a temperature beyond 30 ° C. Thirty minutes before the start of the meetings, the data of the air temperature, the surface and the humidity rate are collected. It is not necessary that both players are requesting the break but it is enough that one of the two complaints it so that it will be granted.
The magazine Fivethirttyeight He tried to estimate the change of temperature at the Slam level: in 2050 the average temperature at the Australian Open should reach 39 degrees, at the Roland Garros 27, in Wimbledon 30, while at the US Open almost 35. Melbourne was made official in 2024 the Australian Open Extreme Heat Heat Protocol (AO-EHP) to minimize the risks for players and public. The parameters are four: temperature, radiated heat (from the sun or any other source of light), humidity and wind speed. An algorithm produces a figure that is quantified by a scale called Heat Stress Scale (HSS), whose value oscillates between 1 and 5. When you reach 4, the precautions begin, from the total suspension of the meetings to the possibility of a cooling break. Especially during the American swing, tennis players cyclically ask that this rule is extended to the whole circuit.
