With temps in 90s, fans try to keep cool at U.S. Open

Veteran U.S. Open fans at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center said they couldn't recall a year with more heat and humidity.

"To me, it's hotter than it has been in Florida," said Jo Ann Stephens of Melbourne, Fla., who was among the 59,073 crowding the tennis center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park Wednesday.

"It's the hottest Open I've been to and I've been coming for 30 years."

Tournament officials Wednesday estimated that the temperature climbed to well over 100 degrees inside stadiums at the tennis center. At nearby LaGuardia Airport, the mercury reached 95 degrees.

In an incident originally blamed on the heat, No. 10 seed Victoria Azarenka, 21, of Belarus, fell to the ground during the opening set of her second-round match against Gisela Dulko of Argentina, which had begun at 11 a.m., and was taken from the court in a wheelchair. Azarenka later blamed a fall she had taken before the match started, and resulting dizziness, for her collapse.

U.S. Open officials released a statement saying Azarenka's condition "does not seem to be primarily a heat-related illness." She was in a local hospital.

Outside the stadiums, tennis fans dipped towels in the fountain outside Arthur Ashe Stadium to keep cool. There were long lines at water and lemonade concession stands.

"It's dangerous," said one New York City police officer. "It's worse than yesterday [Tuesday]."

Wednesday, police and paramedics responded to 54 incidents in which fans required attention because of the heat, said Chris Widmaier, a U.S. Open spokesman. On Tuesday, there were 80 incidents, he said.

None of the patients Tuesday required hospitalization, he said.