{"id":12027,"date":"2016-11-04T15:46:36","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T19:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/climate-change-in-tennis\/"},"modified":"2016-11-04T15:47:55","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T19:47:55","slug":"climate-change-in-tennis","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/climate-change-in-tennis\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate Change in Tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"

An industry where the effects of climate change can be very detrimental but are less talked about is sports. It is an industry which is very close to me personally and within that, Tennis is the sport I am extremely passionate about. Unfortunately, however, while effects of climate change on winter sports are well understood and documented, they are often ignored in Tennis. I will be focusing on the International Tennis Association (ITF) which is the world governing body of Tennis.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

The physical effects of climate change, specifically, rising temperatures, have already manifested themselves in disruptions in the Australian Open. According to an article by John Upton on the Climate Central Website, \u201d Temperatures at the Australian Open\u00a0have kept to double digits so far<\/a>, contrasting with the brutal heat waves that struck last year, causing players and ball kids to pass out. Those heat waves have since been\u00a0categorically linked by multiple teams of scientists<\/a> to the build-up of greenhouse gas pollution in the atmosphere<\/em>.[2]<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

A study (Exhibit 1)[3]<\/a><\/strong> by Climate Central showed that all four cities hosting grand slams have had increasing temperatures. According to Climate Nexus, \u201cIn the 2015 US Open, athletes competed in\u00a0temperatures exceeding 90 degrees with 40 percent humidity<\/a>\u00a0during the first round, leading to a record 10 retirements due mostly to heat stress.[4]<\/a>\u201d\u00a0Till as late as last year, organizers were quite indifferent to the effects. As the article states, \u201cOrganizers of the Australian Open were seemingly indifferent last year to the growing heat challenges created for millionaire professional players by Melbourne\u2019s often scorching Januaries. \u201cNo one is saying it is terribly comfortable to play out there,\u201d the tournament\u2019s chief medical officer said last year after Britain’s Jamie Murray was treated for heatstroke,\u00a0BBC reported<\/a>. \u201cBut, from a medical perspective, we know that man is well adapted to exercising in the heat. Whether it is humane or not is a whole other issue.[5]<\/a>”<\/p>\n

Finally, however, organizers have taken notice. According to articles in the AP news archive and the Daily Mail, \u201d Following severe criticism of the handling of the\u00a02014 Australian Open<\/a>, organisers increased the temperature threshold from the 2003 level of 35\u00b0C (95\u00b0F) to 40\u00b0C (104\u00b0F) and increased the\u00a0wet-bulb globe temperature<\/a>\u00a0(WBGT) threshold from the 2003 level of 28 to 32.5 to allow for more continuous play and less stoppages in the future.[6]<\/a>[7]<\/a>,[8]<\/a>\u201d The organization has also started bringing in infrastructure changes such as construction of more indoor facilities and thinking about changing schedules to match the weather conditions better[9]<\/a>. According to the Climate Institute, \u201cMajor sport venues are improving resilience at significant cost. New stadiums and upgrades now often include\u00a0retractable roofs, synthetic surfaces, raised flooring and flood proofing, and equipment, and energy efficiencies to\u00a0compensate for increased cooling costs. Many if not all these changes are beyond local facilities.[10]<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

However, most changes address short term issues and not systemic issues in the industry. I believe that a combination of both short and long term solutions is required to save the continuity in the sport.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Investment in Infrastructure:<\/strong> The first thing ITF needs to is a significant increase in infrastructure for the Australian open and the French Open, which has experienced extreme delays due to unpredictable weather. As described above, retractable roofs, indoor courts and cooling systems need to be instituted immediately. However, ultimately, Tennis is an outdoor sport and to maintain its popularity and viewership, infrastructure in other cities with better weather conditions needs to be developed. Cities in emerging economies need to be identified with careful research and tournaments in those cities need to be promoted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Change of Venues:<\/strong> Ultimately, an option that needs to be considered is moving the two grand slams to the above-mentioned cities. This requires significant marketing and awareness effort in bringing up tournaments in those cities to the grand slam level. Before we dismiss this approach as unrealistic, we need to consider other sports have taken these dramatic approaches and have seen success. The most resounding success has probably been the introduction of the night grand prix in Singapore which has become a remarkable event in the country. The other has been with Cricket with the introduction of night matches with pink balls instead of white that stand out.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Exhibit 1[11]<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cClimate Central analyzed temperatures\u2026 host grand slam tournaments, and \u2026 daily maximums were analyzed for the months when the bulk of the matches are played \u2026. Since 1968, when\u00a0professionals began competing in tennis\u2019 grand slams<\/a>, temperatures in the four host cities have been getting noticeably hotter.\u201d<\/p>\n

P.S. – Though we had to upload files so had an exhibit there. Didn’t know we had to submit it like this. Have added the exhibit as a photo<\/p>\n

(745 words) without exhibit<\/p>\n

(802 words) with exhibit<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Taken from ITF website (http:\/\/www.itftennis.com\/about\/organisation\/role.aspx<\/a>)<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> http:\/\/www.climatecentral.org\/news\/tennis-grand-slams-heating-up-18566<\/a><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Taken from article by John Upton on ClimateCentral.org (http:\/\/www.climatecentral.org\/news\/tennis-grand-slams-heating-up-18566<\/a>)<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> http:\/\/climatenexus.org\/learn\/societal-impacts\/climate-change-and-sports<\/a><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> http:\/\/www.climatecentral.org\/news\/tennis-grand-slams-heating-up-18566<\/a><\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Australian_Open_extreme_heat_policy<\/a><\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> http:\/\/www.apnewsarchive.com\/2002\/Australian-Open-Unveils-New-Policy\/id-3bfc62ed047546232185b206ab066848<\/a><\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-2857068\/Australian-Open-revise-extreme-heat-policy-years-vomiting-players-fainting-ball-boys-fiasco.html<\/a> (links 6 and 7 were reached through Wikipedia)<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> http:\/\/breakingenergy.com\/2015\/02\/09\/hey-sports-fans-time-to-deal-with-climate-change-and-it-wont-be-<\/a> cheap\/<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> http:\/\/www.climateinstitute.org.au\/articles\/media-releases\/australian-sport-feels-the-heat-as-global-temperatures-rise.html<\/a><\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Taken from article by John Upton on ClimateCentral.org (http:\/\/www.climatecentral.org\/news\/tennis-grand-slams-heating-up-18566<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Climate change affecting Tennis faster in more ways than you can imagine <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2141,"featured_media":12028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[1782,1783,167,1781],"class_list":["post-12027","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australian-open","category-grand-slam","category-sports","category-tennis"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/climate-change-challenge-2016\/","yoast_head":"\nClimate Change in Tennis - Technology and Operations Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/climate-change-in-tennis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Climate Change in Tennis - 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