Henman Gets By, but Heat Takes Toll on Players

NEW YORK — The heat and humidity claimed one victim. Cramps took out another player. The erratic conditions hurt and then helped another top contender.

A weakened Nicolas Kiefer of Germany retired for the first time in his career because of the heat. Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark felt the frequency of cramps pulsating in his legs even hours after he quit in the fourth set against Xavier Malisse of Belgium.

Ninth-seeded Tim Henman of Great Britain looked even more pale than usual against lowly qualifier Jan Vacek of the Czech Republic but caught a break when the weather cooled before an afternoon rain delay.

Just another Manic Monday, the opener of the U.S. Open. Of the three, Henman was the survivor. He defeated Vacek, 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 3-6, 6-3, in 3 hours 52 minutes.

Henman needed brief medical treatment after the fourth set. The weather cooled and the late afternoon rain came, interrupting play for more than an hour and a half.

“It was a mental and physical battle, perhaps more so than a tennis battle,” Henman said. “My stomach didn’t feel great. But you’ve got to find a way to get through those types of situations. That’s why I’m relieved.”

Kiefer and Carlsen weren’t so lucky.

Kiefer, a quarterfinalist here last year, split the first two sets against Rainer Schuettler of Germany and stopped playing after losing the first game of the third. “I was up 7-5, 1-0,” Kiefer said. “I started feeling weak. I was freezing. Next moment, it was very hot. I got a headache. I didn’t see the ball so straight. I started thinking, ‘What is going on now?’ I took a medical timeout. But it didn’t help.”

The weather was in the mid-80s, hardly as oppressive as some of the conditions at recent tour stops in Cincinnati and Indianapolis. Carlsen’s cramps came when his opponent, Malisse, was self-destructing.

But Carlsen could not capitalize, though he won the second and third sets after losing the first.

“I’ve had cramps before, but I’ve never had to default,” he said. “This was the first time I couldn’t do anything. There was no way for me to even walk.”

Three years ago, there was a rash of retirements in the early rounds at the Open on the men’s side even though the weather was not particularly harsh. One player wondered whether he cramped because of creatine use.

Creatine is not a banned substance on either tour, and 2000 French Open champion Mary Pierce acknowledged she used it to increase her muscle mass.

“I’ve never used it,” Carlsen said. “It’s just in the gray zone, where I think it’s a little bit of doping. I don’t say it’s doping because it is not [banned]. I don’t think it can be healthy for the body. The studies they have, up until now, they know what’s going to happen in 30 years. “I think a lot of guys have tried it. I’m not sure how many take it.”

*

William Washington, the father of two professional players and a third who has retired, Mal, picketed with others outside of the National Tennis Center, protesting the USTA’s wild-card selection system. He filed a lawsuit against the USTA in 1998, charging the process discriminated against African-Americans. His attorney, Sandra Frelix, said Monday the dispute remains in discovery and has issues with the major management agencies.

“They create tournaments for their players,” she said. “That’s all fine and well. However, don’t create tournaments for your players that impact on your rankings. It’s not fair to all of the people who aren’t represented.”

Washington has staged protests at the Open the last four years.

“Level the playing field so that white people will have an equal chance to play this game,” he said. “Those white people that are being cut out for the same reason, likewise, ought to be out here marching with me right now.”