This topic still needs to be discussed. It’s not safe on court for these players. They are playing, working, and competing like the professionals who they are, but the heat is clearly affecting many players’ ability to play good tennis.

And it’s misleading to respond that extreme conditions bring out the best of training and conditioning. Players cannot condition themselves to not get heat exhaustion. Every body is different, but they can all overheat at some point. We are sacrificing good tennis and—far more importantly—risking these players’ health by allowing them to compete in this inhumane heat.

Wednesday’s Best:

Sam Querrey: The former American No. 1 was impressive for most of the match, showing how he once beat Andy Murray in Los Angeles. His serve was untouchable, while he played strong defense and hit massive attacking groundstrokes when he could. Querrey played one poor game in the second set, but other than that he showed the tennis that had him on the cusp of the top 10 a few years ago.

David Ferrer: Ferrer was not his solid self for the entirety of this match. He came out a little slow and struggled early, even losing the second set to Adrian Mannarino. But the level he showed in the final two sets should be very encouraging to his fans. This was the level of tennis that took Ferrer to the Roland Garros final last year. His movement was superb, every shot forcing an uncomfortable reply, and every opening was fully exploited. It was tremendous tennis to watch.

Richard Gasquet- Gasquet may have been dealing with an injury in the weeks leading up to this tournament, but whatever it was he seems to have played himself out of it. He looked solid and played a strong match, getting through Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets. Gasquet was a little shaky to start the match, but it was good top 10 tennis from then on.

Wednesday’s Worst:

In keeping with my precedent from yesterday, nobody who competed in this heat looked bad. On a day when Ivan Dodig, who is no slouch in ordinary heat, said that he felt he could have died on court, everyone who played deserves full credit.

Match of the Day:

Without question, this has to go to the five-setter between Florian Mayer and Mikhail Youzhny. It was not the highest-quality match overall, but it was exciting and tight from start to finish. There were far too many errors for it to qualify as a great match, but there were also far too many incredible points for it to be poor.

No player managed to win consecutive sets in this match. The momentum swings were as often as they were unpredictable. Mayer won the first, third, and fifth sets, while Youzhny took the second and fourth. The fifth set was a bit disappointing as Youzhny was just unable to overcome his numerous errors, but there was outstanding tennis interspersed in there as well. The match was as enjoyable as it was unpredictable, which made it quite entertaining to watch.