Improving the Australian Open extreme heat policy

One of the characteristics of tennis is that you do not know when the match is going to fi nish, and a 'long' match is a real possibility. Very recently, the longest match in tennis history occurred in the first round of Wimbledon 2010 between John Isner and Nicholas Mahut. A total of 183 games were played and the match lasted for 11 hours and 5 minutes (and was played over 3 days). It is well known that the match duration depends on the scoring system used. For example, the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon singles events have an advantage final set, whereas the tiebreak set is used for the final set at the US Open. Clearly, 'long' fifth sets are less likely to occur at the US Open.