Tennis rule change plea after Emma Raducanu episodes and Carlos Alcaraz complaint

Tennis star Matteo Berrettini has made an impassioned plea for the ATP to introduce heat rules at tournament. It comes following Emma Raducanu's recent health battle on-court, Carlos Alcaraz has also been critical of the sport's schedule.

Raducanu recently took part in the Ningbo Open, where she was dumped from the tournament by local wildcard Zhu Lin, who dispatched her 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in a surprise result. The Brit required medical attention on two occasions during the contest, with the first to check her blood pressure and the second for treatment on her back. This followed a similar scenario at the Wuhan Open, where she was forced to retire due to dizziness, which was followed by an on-court medical time-out.

Raducanu has now decided to end her season, with her next action on court set to take place in 2026. She was due to play in Tokyo and Hong Kong for her final two events of the year, but that will no longer go ahead, although it has been confirmed that she will remain with coach Francisco Roig.

Raducanu's struggles with the heat have been mirrored by other players. Fellow tennis star Berrettini has now called for a heat rule, adding that people don't understand how much of a difference five degrees makes - cooler or hotter. "During the Asian swing, I experienced conditions I'd never experienced before," he said.

"Hangzhou was hotter than Shanghai, but the tournament was smaller, so no one noticed. The first few days were so hot we couldn't believe it. Luckily, they had a roof and it rained a lot."

"When conditions are so extreme, the ATP needs to do what the Grand Slams did: introduce a heat rule or something similar. We don't want players to get injured or have those difficulties. In the end, health comes first, but also the spectacle: if players don't feel well, they withdraw. We don't want that. Most people don't even understand how different it can be to play even in the same tournament with only 5 degrees less or more."

Another player to criticse the schedule is Alcaraz, who revealed that he would miss mandatory events if it meant he could better protect his health. "I think it's a discussion that a lot of players and a lot of people are talking about with the calendar," he said.

"How tight it is with a lot of tournaments and the tournaments of two weeks and then making some, I'm going to say, excuses with exhibitions, how players are complaining about the calendar and then playing some exhibitions. All I can say is it's a really different format, different situation playing exhibitions than the official tournaments, having 15, 16 days in row, having such a high focus and demanding physically."

"That's why, because we're just having fun for one or two days and playing some tennis and I think that's great and I think that's why we choose sometimes the exhibitions.

"Obviously I understand (the criticism), but sometimes the people don't understand us, our opinions. When I see a lot of people complaining about how we are defending the exhibitions, I don't understand them because, as I said, it's not really demanding mentally (compared to) when we're having such long events like two weeks or two-and-a-half weeks. It's really tough."

After suffering an ankle problem while playing in Tokyo, Alcaraz credited his physiotherapist for enabling him to play on. "I have said it before and I will say it again, I have the best physio in the world, who I trust 100 per cent," he said. "The work he has done for the ankle has been great. I could play normally, which is great."

He has recently been playing in the Six Kings Slam tournament in Saudi Arabia, where each player receives $1.5m (£1.1m) purely for entering, with the winner netting $4.5m (£3.3m).

In a new age rivalry, Jannik Sinner will face Alcaraz once again, this time in the Six Kings Slam final. Sinner hammered Djokovic, with Alcaraz getting the better of Taylor Fritz.