Wet Bulb Globe

Category: Tennis

Publish Date: 01-28-2009 05:46 AM -0500

Serena Williams says she likes playing in the heat. Let's give her the benefit of the doubt, but it seems she likes playing indoors even more. After a sloppy first set in 100-degree temperatures, Williams found her serve, sharpened her forehand and defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova, 5-7, 7-5, 6-1. Kuznetsova couldn't serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set (she missed a routine forehand volley on break point).

Williams acknowledged that the decision to close the roof (which afforded each player a 20-minute rest) helped her.

"It was really an outer-body experience," Williams said. "I felt I was watching someone play in a blue dress, and it wasn't me, because it was so hot out there."

It wasn't just the heat that troubled Williams. On one side of the court, the sun made serving difficult. In the first set, she won 40 percent of the points on her first serve. In the next two sets, she won 86 percent and 85 percent.

Kuznetsova said she was angry about the tournament's decision.

"Closing the roof middle of the match, I don't get it," Kuznetsova said. "Serena was tough. She's playing great. I give her credit. But I don't get this rule."

In all her years on the tour, Williams has served well no matter her conditioning (when she won this title two years ago, her serve carried her most of the way). So far this tournament, her serve has been maddeningly inconsistent, so much so that she screamed the f-word during her fourth-round match. The roof changed everything, and if Williams remains confident in her serve the rest of the tournament, it's going to take an incredible performance to stop her from taking the title. Elena Dementieva, who will meet Williams in the semifinals, probably has the best chance of showing Williams the door.

A few thoughts on the roof policy. Had this match been played in 2007, the roof would have remained open for the entire match (back then, the rule required a match to be completed under the same conditions present at the start). In a press conference on Wednesday, tournament director Craig Tiley and tournament referee Wayne McKewen explained that the rule was changed last year with input from players.

So I don't bore you to death, I'll quickly describe how tournament officials decide whether it's too hot to play outdoors. They use what's called a "Wet Bulb Globe" measure, which incorporates temperature and humidity (warning: it doesn't involve soaking light bulbs in water, so please don't try that at home). When that meteorological measure reaches a certain point, the tournament closes the roof at the end of a set (and cancels outdoor play).

The rule may change again next year, Tiley said. My view? I'd hate to be in the position of the tournament referee on a day like today. Still, I'd much rather have seen the rest of the Williams-Kuznetsova match played with the roof open. It's not as if the temperature went up another 15 degrees from when the match had started. Kuznetsova had good reason to be angry.

One final thought on today's women's action: I can't wait to see more of Carla Saurez Navarro, especially in Paris. She's a dynamic player with great speed, a pretty backhand, and a forehand that, to my mind, is a bigger weapon. She has soft hands at net, too. Is she too small to take her game to the next level? The Justine Henin fan in me says no.

Want to know what Serena would have done had she lost? Abby Lorge explains that and more.

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