A rarely used rule might change Wimbledon matches – and it just takes one player to set it off!
A little-known Wimbledon rule might come into play this week as the tournament reaches an exciting stage.
The Wimbledon quarter-finals started on Tuesday, with world No.1 Jannik Sinner kicking things off by beating Jan-Lennard Struff in straight sets on Court One. Sinner is the clear favorite to keep his title at SW19, but veteran Novak Djokovic is chasing more history after passing Roger Federer for the most men’s singles wins at Wimbledon, following his win over Roman Safiullin.
Djokovic, 39, is also trying to become the oldest player to win a Grand Slam in the Open era. He’s not the only one aiming to make history this week. Arthur Fery, a 23-year-old British player who came into Wimbledon ranked outside the top 100, is the last Brit left in the tournament. He faces Flavio Cobolli on Wednesday and hopes to become the first wildcard ever to reach a Grand Slam semi-final. That would be amazing! But there’s a chance his next matches could be affected by a rare rule.
Wimbledon is expecting some hot weather, with temperatures reaching up to 31°C on Wednesday in London. The Met Office has even issued an Amber weather warning. Thursday and Friday look just as warm, with temps staying above 30°C, which could mean the ‘Extreme Heat Policy’ might be used.
Wimbledon has a special rule to protect players when it gets very hot and humid. This rule allows players to take a 10-minute break (15 minutes for wheelchair players) between sets if the heat stress index reaches 30.1°C (86.2°F) or more. Only one player needs to ask for this break for it to happen, and players can leave the court, refresh themselves, or change outfits during this time.
This heat rule was already used during Wimbledon qualifiers when London saw its hottest June day ever and a red heat warning. Other tournaments have similar rules: the Australian Open uses a heat stress scale and gives a 10-minute cooling break if the score hits 4.0. The French Open also has a system that triggers a 10-minute break when a certain temperature is reached and even stops matches if it gets hotter.
When Sinner lost unexpectedly at the French Open, the heat rule didn’t come into play because the temperature wasn’t that high. Sinner said, “It was warm, but not crazy warm. It felt okay to play. It wasn’t the heat or weather that affected me — it was just me today, but that happens.”