WTAforever · @WTAspectacular
6th Apr 2019 from TwitLonger
The cold weather myth
For one of the most unnecessary reasons in Tianjin, they cancelled the matches on Tuesday 10th October 2017 at around 4 pm in the afternoon when the rain ended. They had lights to play at night, and they still had to cancel the rest of the day and night cause it was too cold? Since the majority of the world is more familiar with Celsius i'll be using that instead of Fahrenheit.
Other reasons why i did this is cause of the countless people always complaining about the weather being too cold. Then there's the WTA who puts tournaments like Charleston or Bogota at the start of the clay season when you're supposed to be in Europe, not anywhere else but i'm guessing it's probably cause the weather is too cold right?
Let me tell you something about too cold.
The following videos are examples of matches played in cold weather below 10 C without any cancellations.
Moorilla Hobart International 2013
Barthel vs Svitolina
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGEu1_AP_MY&t=764s
This is exactly like on tuesday the 10th of October. It was 20.3 Celsius according to the video when the players were warming up, however due to rain delay, the temperature dropped down to 11.6 C. Wind 33kmh. This means the actual temperature would be at least be somewhere around 8 C.
Peng vs Niculescu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbnI-DAssFE&list=PL_hX5wLdhf_KR6-BhEslSaAwtU_w4hSG7&index=36
Temperature 13.6 C Wind 21 kmh Feels like 7.1 C
Brussels Open 2013
Govortsova vs Peng
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeX9EqvqfV0&list=PLen7kZjwzd04B0c6QK7ZArvm8yqXwMyaz&index=5
Temperature 12 C Feels Like 8 C
Earlier in the day Peng defeated Arvidsson and later had a marathon match with Govortsova where she nearly lost that you can see above. She still fought back despite the cold weather and went on to defeat Stephens the next day without feeling injured. Listen to what she said after that match.
"It was cold out there but I had a good start, probably because I played so much yesterday," said Peng, who played twice on Wednesday at this rain-hit claycourt event.
Lepchenko vs Kanepi
Temperature after the second set 7 C Feels Like 0 C
Kaia said: "After the rain delay in the second set it was so cold and it was hard for me to play well but she came back so strong, which is really impressive because of the conditions."
Monterrey Open 2015
Ivanovic vs Mladenovic
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XOTA5Mzk4OTM2.html?spm=a2hzp.8253869.0.0
Temperature 7 C Feels Like 4 C
J&T Banka Prague Open 2015
Pliskova vs Beck
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTQ0Mzc3NzEyOA==.html?spm=a2hzp.8253869.0.0
Tempreature 5 C Feels like 1 C
One of the coldest tennis matches on clay.
"It was my first match on clay so it took me while to get used to it," she said.
"The first set was bad, I was freezing, could not move, conditions were perfect for my opponent. She was defending and running very well."
Pliskova added on www.wtatennis.com: "It's tough to play in such a cold and rain, but I don't complain, it was the same for both of us. Court was in perfect condition, just the rain was too strong."
There you go, the rain was the real nuisance here not the cold weather.
J&T Banka Prague Open 2016
WTA Prague qualifications day 2 2016
The second day of qualifying was played under tough conditions. Players experienced temperatures under 10 degrees, chilling wind and occasional snowfall. Despite the unusual conditions the level of play was very good.
https://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.SWtFJYzhpJ7BiYHRrfN8UgHaFj&pid=Api&P=0&w=215&h=162
http://i.imgur.com/CJM2bj6.jpg
Smitkova vs King
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTU1MDQwNTE1Mg==.html?spm=a2hzp.8253869.0.0
Temperature 5 C Feels Like 1 C
Nürnberger Versicherungscup 2016
Pereira vs Beck
https://livestream.com/atp250/wtaNurnberger2016centrecourt/videos/123134845
Temperature 8 C Feels Like 6 C
"I think overall it was a very tough match," Beck said. "I felt good because it's kind of my home tournament and I used the atmosphere to help me and at the end I needed this because it was hard and a lot of fighting."
Sounds like she used the cold weather to her advantage.
Hibino vs McHale
https://livestream.com/atp250/wtaNurnberger2016court1/videos/123128015
Temperature 7 C Feels Like 5 C
ITF Wiesbaden Tennis Open 2016
http://www.wiesbaden-tennis-open.de/galerie_2016/
AccuWeather
Mon 4/25 Wed 4/27
Actaul Temp Actual Temp
9/0 C - 48/32 F 9/2 C - 48/36 F
ITF $10,000 Nanjing 2016
Wed 3/9
Actual Temp
6/2 C
ITF $15,000 Nanjing 2017
Thu 2/23
Actual Temp
7/1 C
ITF Macon GA 2017
Schmiedlova vs Duval
https://livestream.com/procircuit/macon2017/videos/165144963
Temperature 6 C Feels Like 1 C
ITF Orlando FL USTA National Campus Pro Tennis Classic 2018
Thu 1/18
Actual Temp
12/-2 C
Can you believe this?
Even in one of the hottest places in the world we see cold temperatures and yet they still continue.
ITF Manacor 2018
Sat 2/10
Actual Temp
10/-1 C
ITF Palmanova 2018
Tue 2/27
Actual Temp
7/4 C
ITF Yokohama 2018
Wed 3/7
Actual Temp
9/4 C
WTA Houston 2018
Tue 11/13
Actual Temp
5/1 C
It says 5 to 1 degrees for high and low, but it actually felt like -3 to -1 C from 10 AM to the end of the day.
As you have seen, women have been playing in much colder temperatures than in Tianjin for years now and they will keep on going because they're true tennis players. And while i'm at it here's something really remarkable. Remember when Peng was playing against Wozniacki at the US in the heat?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-2745588/Shuai-Peng-helped-court-wheelchair-collapsing-twice-Caroline-Wozniacki-goes-second-US-Open-final.html
Now look back at her match against Beatriz Haddad Maia where the temperature was exactly the opposite and on top of that she played a marathon match once again without even feeling injured at all. It seems to me she really does play better in cold weather, as do many others so why would you cancel when it's cold?
That was the coldest tennis match ever on the tour and with that she also won the Tournament which makes her the first Queen of the cold. A true player who never backed down from cold or freezing temperatures.
So there you go, there will always be people who want to watch, players who want to play. It’s never too cold to play tennis unless the temperature plummets way below -10 Celsius.
Now i believe all the amazing women in the videos put that cold weather myth to a bitter end.