Players at ‘high risk’ as tennis chases sun

The sport of professional tennis is one of pursuit.

Tournaments are scheduled to take place throughout the year in warm weather that runs from Australia to Europe in January. This will provide ideal playing conditions for all seasons.

However, this summer-obsessed schedule can come with painful and dangerous costs.

Ask Mexican tennis player Renata Zarazua, who posted a photo of her blistered, bright red back last week as a reminder to everyone that “the Australian sun is no joke.”

Or Lucy Shuker, a British wheelchair tennis player who discovered she had sun damage on one of her eyes.

Nearly 85% of professional tennis matches are outdoors, and some players spend up to 400 hours a year practicing or competing in direct sunlight. They are also exposed to a lot of UV, which can cause skin cancer to develop and damage their eyes.

Andy Roddick, Chris Evert, Jennifer Capriati, and Chris Evert, both former players, have reported developing pterygiums on the cornea as a result of sun exposure.

Evert has previously called the sun’s effects “the tennis tour’s nasty little secret” for the way it affects the eyes.

The LTA, the country’s top tennis team, has begun attempting to protect its athletes by conducting annual specialist sports vision tests and skin and mole tests with dermatologists as part of its flurry of pre-season screenings.

Three of the ten players checked out of the 10 on the day of the screenings at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton last month showed signs of eye damage from high UV exposure.

Sports vision optometrist Carmelo Castiglione said that the more UV exposure they receive, the more likely they will develop ocular surface issues.

At the screening, Paralympic silver medalist Shuker admitted to having a mole on his forehead after spending a lot of time in the sun. I’m aware that my father has some skin-related alterations, which suggests that we are a little more prone to infection in our family.

Because players are “at a high risk” of sun exposure, according to Guy Evans, chief medical officer for the LTA. “They’ll train for many hours in the day,” he added. They will be out in the sun for eight hours as we enter our offices and sit in the dark.

Because light enters the eye’s internal structure directly, it is ten times more sensitive to UV than skin, according to Eye Health UK.

Similar to how the sun can burn skin, UV radiation can burn the cornea, lens, and surface of the eye, which can cause vision disruption and distortion. The risk of developing conditions like cataracts and macular degeneration, which can result in blindness, is significantly increased by long-term UV exposure.

There is no better way to protect your eyes from UV radiation than sunglasses, according to experts like Castiglione, and use should begin as a young age, even though players are “reluctant” to do so during matches.

However, there aren’t many professional tennis players there, despite the fact that it is common to see sunglasses-wearing cricketers, sailors, or other athletes who play in similar conditions.

Reluctance is thought to be a result of issues like comfort, depth perception, and ball tracking.

For me, “I’ve always avoided it just out of pure sweat,” said British number three Fran Jones in Melbourne. “It’s like having to wash them a lot or if they steam up.

A definitive link was made between those who spend all or part of the day outdoors and those who were surveyed by the Australian Institute of Sport in 2023. According to the study, skin damage is permanent, irreversible, and gets worse with each exposure.

Zarazua didn’t apply sunscreen, despite her usual sunscreen application, when she was sunburnt last week, which caused her to have a fever the following day.

She claimed that applying sunscreen “can occasionally be annoying because it can be so oily and even you grab a bit on your arm and then your grip it is so slippery, so you can’t play.”

She continued, “Sometimes, that’s why I just wear long sleeves and leggings to avoid those kinds of things.” You need a firm grip to hit a forehand or serve if I have a small amount of cream in my grip.

What do you do with your hands after applying extra sunscreen on the court? It’s not as though you’re using the washer there to apply soap.

Cameron Norrie, a British actor, applies heavy-duty zinc sunscreen to his face, which has a white-stripe finish but is also sweat-resistant.

Not looking particularly good, looking a little like a cricket player, but that’s the only way I can protect for a long time, he told BBC Sport.

Roddick and Evert have urged current players at junior and senior levels to take serious precautions in the sun, citing their own experiences, and to wear suncream, caps, and sunglasses.

Maya Joint, a player who frequently wears sunglasses, praised the tournaments for doing “a really good job” providing sunscreen and providing guidelines for players in hot and humid environments.

10-minute breaks during matches in extreme weather will be permitted from this season, in addition to the long-standing WTA provisions that were recently implemented by the men’s ATP tour.

I believe that many players are doing well with [looking after themselves in the sun], Joint said.