ODDS AND ENDS

Tennis: Officials have scrapped the use of wet bulb globe temperature readings for next month’s Australian Open, which should result in more matches suspended or delayed by Melbourne’s hot, dry and often windy conditions in January. The wet bulb index is a measure of the heat stress in direct sunlight, which takes into account temperature, humidity, wind speed, sun angle and cloud cover. Australian Open officials said Saturday a newly developed “heat stress scale,” which takes into account air temperature, radiant heat, humidity and wind speed, will instead be applied along with more comprehensive measuring of conditions across Melbourne Park. The Australian Open begins on Jan. 14.

Boxing: Floyd Mayweather is promising entertainment when he fights Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in three rounds of exhibition boxing on New Year’s Eve, but not necessarily a knockout. “If it happens, it happens,” Mayweather said Saturday, but the American was adamant that his opponent wasn’t going to knock him out or down on Monday. “Throughout my years at boxing, I never touched the canvas once,” Mayweather told reporters, brushing off the upcoming event as “just another day.” He added: “I can do three rounds in my sleep.” Neither kicking nor official results are part of the Rizin Fighting Federation match, but a knockout is possible under the special rules.