RelatedAustralian Open heat:Djokovic forced to retireRoddick reaches semis
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MELBOURNE, Australia -- When it comes to playing night matches at the Australian Open, American Andy Roddick and Serbia's Novak Djokovic think convention shouldn't always dictate ladies first.
"If everything is equal all across the way, I feel like maybe the men should get the first match every once in a while during the first week of a Slam," Roddick said Tuesday after his quarter-final win over 2008 champion Djokovic. "If all things are equal, then I feel like the scheduling should be the same."
The Australian Open has equal prize money for men and women despite men playing best-of-five sets and women best-of-three.
Djokovic and 2006 runner-up Marcos Baghdatis complained of a late start after their fourth-round match finished at 2:26 a.m. because the previous women's match lasted three hours.
Baghdatis, whose 4:34 a.m. loss to Lleyton Hewitt at last year's tournament is a record for a late finish at the Australian Open, said he and Djokovic had joked about the women's match never ending.
Djokovic got through the Baghdatis match in four sets, but complained the late finish didn't give him enough time to prepare for his quarter-final against Roddick. He retired in the fourth set because of fatigue, soreness and the heat.
He didn't like the idea of playing a late night match and then going back into an afternoon slot.
"I think doesn't really benefit for a lot of people to play that late," said Djokovic, adding that the afternoon schedule for the quarter-final had hurt him.
Djokovic didn't get on court until 11:10 p.m. on Sunday night after the women's match went three hours.
"I went to sleep around 5, 5:30," Djokovic said. "Didn't really have time to recover."
Seventh-seeded Roddick agreed that the turnaround from a late match could be very difficult, saying he frequently had the late matches at the U.S. Open.
"That night of sleep is suspect, at best," he said. "It's maybe three, four hours, and it limits what you can do the next day in practice."
Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said organizers try to keep the time between matches consistent.
"We can't, of course, help the length of a match," Tiley said. "And we don't want to disadvantage someone by changing that rotation. It's never ideal, because if it was, everyone would want to play at the same time."
As for putting the men before the women at night, Tiley said: "Everything is under consideration."
"It may be the same next year, or there may be some things that are different," he said.
Switzerland's Roger Federer hopes the Australian Open and other Grand Slams adopt a men's-first policy at some night sessions.
"I think it would be nice to come up with a concept that maybe the guys get a 7:30 start match one time," Federer said. "If they (women's matches) play long like today -- we started, what, 10 (p.m.)? It gets late for fans ... for everybody. You might have the greatest match taking place at 2 a.m.
"I think it would be nice if they would sort of consider that in all the Grand Slam tournaments, especially the ones that have night sessions."
HEAT WAVE: If players thought 35 C on Tuesday was hot, they could be in for a shock this week.
The state of Victoria has issued a public warning as the temperature is forecast to soar above 40 C the next four days, the longest heat wave here in 50 years.
Emergency workers fear heat-related illnesses and fires, while at Melbourne Park the sweltering courts will challenge even the fittest of players.
"It was quite, quite hot," said 2007 Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli of France, who lost 6-3, 6-0 to Vera Zvonareva in an afternoon quarter-finals match. "I have to say it was definitely some tough conditions."
Defending men's champion Novak Djokovic blamed both the heat and fatigue for causing the cramping and soreness that led him to retire from his quarter-finals match with Andy Roddick.
"Conditions were extreme today," he said.
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