The Australian Open men’s final will go ahead on Sunday night as Melbourne sweats through the back end of an unbearably hot Australia Day long weekend.
As Roger Federer and Marin Cilic make their way onto Rod Laver Arena at 7.30pm in front of a crowd of 15,000 spectators, the temperature will be sitting at a sticky 38C.
‘(It will be) extremely uncomfortable conditions, particularly on Sunday night,’ Weatherzone forecaster Stuart Coombs told the ABC.
‘You don’t really get the chance to recover after the 39 degrees very well so it does make it very stressful on the body.’
Temperatures are set to hit 38C at 8pm on Sunday night in Melbourne as the Australian Open men’s final gets underway
Melbourne and Geelong are forecast to reach 39C on Sunday, with the temperature in the city not expected to fall below 27C on Sunday night.
Elsewhere across the state, Echuca and Bendigo are likely to hit 40C and Mildura 44C.
Conditions will remain unseasonally humid until late Monday, Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Dean Stewart said.
‘It’s unusual that you’ll have high temperatures combined with the very high humidity,’ he told AAP.
‘It doesn’t often get this humid when you’ve got temperatures around 40C.’
Forecasters warn the temperatures will be ‘extremely uncomfortable’ for the 15,000 spectators watching Roger Federer (pictured) and Marin Cilic play
Australian Open officials have confirmed they will review the extreme heat policy at the end of the tournament after a number of players made complaints.
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic said the conditions were on the verge of being unplayable and France’s Gaels Monfils said he felt like he was dying on court.
France’s Alize Cornet needed treatment after lying down on the court in her defeat by Elise Mertens.
People will get a reprieve from the hot and sticky conditions with a cool change expected to hit Melbourne on mid-Monday afternoon, BoM says.
Australian Open officials have confirmed they will review the extreme heat policy at the end of the tournament after a number of players made complaints