Racquet, balls, and the face mask
A senior China Open tennis official said Sunday matches would not be stopped for air pollution unless it was so bad that players could not see the ball, following renewed concerns over Beijing’s notorious haze.
Tournament co-director Charles Hsiung said there were no specific measures, such as breathing apparatus, in place for the players despite pollution which is often so high that authorities warn against outdoor exertion.
Smog reached “hazardous” levels at this year’s tournament before clearing during the final days, and one player complained that he vomited after a match because of the haze.
Pollution is a chronic problem in Beijing. In 2010 Novak Djokovic said players should have oxygen tanks on court, and two years ago Sweden’s Robert Lindstedt called it “the city that cuts off days from your life”.
Fans in facemasks were again a common sight this year, and world number 42 Martin Klizan said the “extreme smog” made him “cough uncontrollably after every point and I had to vomit after the match”.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was one of three players to fall victim to dizzy spells in the first round, when the haze was high, although one of them, Eugenie Bouchard, was concussed in recent weeks, and Petra Kvitova blamed the glandular fever she suffered earlier this year.
“I don’t know. Nothing in me can calculate if it’s enough oxygen for me or not. I just play tennis,” said Tsonga, when asked if he thought it was the pollution that made him feel faint.
Hsiung did not detail any special medical facilities for the players but said there were spaces indoors where they can go when the pollution is high.
“We have a lot of indoor facilities, so players can do stretching etc indoors, should the weather get so bad,” he said.
“But it’s not really a lot of pollution this year as compared to previous years.”