Serving New Heat Safety Measures at the 2024 US Open

In 2024, its 12th year as official medical services provider to the US Open Tennis Championships, Mount Sinai’s team of orthopedic surgeons and sports medicine physicians came well prepared to treat the world’s top tennis players with services spanning emergency care to radiology and even mental health. As with previous tournaments, the team also planned meticulously for how to keep athletes, fans, and crews safe from heat and associated hyperthermia injuries.

“Along with other safety concerns, preparing for heat-related emergencies comes up year after year, but with heat waves becoming more common, we know the possibility for more extreme heat is something we need to be ready to deal with,” says Melissa Leber, MD, Director of Player Medical Services, who oversaw Mount Sinai’s elite team of specialists at the United States Tennis Association’s (USTA) Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens from August 26 to September 8. “Starting six months before the tournament, we need to plan for extreme heat and come up with ways to make the tournament as safe as possible.”

From determining how to educate players, fans, and crews on proper hydration, to adjusting heat breaks and making sure players have ample time to rest, creating shaded areas, setting up cooling towers, and acquiring special air-conditioned chairs for players, the level of planning was methodical. “It’s not just about the athletes,” says Dr. Leber, Director of Emergency Department Sports Medicine and Associate Professor of Orthopedics and Emergency Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “We make sure that everyone is safe.”

Both an emergency medicine and sports medicine physician who served as a player physician for the US Open Tennis Championships for roughly a decade, Dr. Leber brings unique expertise to her position, which she held for a second year in a row. The second woman to serve as Director of Player Medical Services, she oversees the medical team alongside Alexis Colvin, MD, who was the tournament’s Chief Medical Officer, a position Dr. Colvin has held for the past seven years. Together, they are the first all-female leadership team overseeing Player Medical Services at the tournament.

Dr. Leber and Dr. Colvin are renowned specialists in their fields, though as medical directors for the US Open Tennis Championships, they oversee health providers in a wide range of fields, including interventional radiology, urology, anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine, pediatrics, and rehabilitation and human performance. For the multidisciplinary team at the 2024 US Open Tennis Championships, preparing for and managing player, fan, and crew safety during the tournament was a top priority.

“Each year, our team at the US Open Tennis Championships raises the bar in ensuring comprehensive, cutting-edge care for athletes, staff, and fans alike," says Dr. Colvin, Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, and Associate Dean for Alumni Affairs at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "Our goal is to anticipate every need and deliver seamless medical support to make this tournament as safe and successful as possible.”

Measuring Wet Bulb Globe Temperature and Conducting On-Court Emergency Simulations

Two new initiatives were implemented in 2024 in relation to monitoring and preparing for emergencies. Working closely with the USTA, Drs. Leber and Colvin measured the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), which takes into account ambient air temperature, wind speed, sun exposure, and humidity, in more frequent increments. “The wet bulb globe temperature takes all these things into account to factor in the body’s true perceived temperature,” explains Dr. Leber. “We were measuring it every 30 minutes. If the WBGT got too high, we knew to take precautions, like closing the stadium roof, even if we had to partially close it to have the actual court itself be in the shade.”

Fortunately, the 2024 US Open Tennis Championships did not experience any heat waves, but the preparations give the Mount Sinai team additional skills to handle heat-related events during future tournaments. “This year we prepared more than any other year, with more meetings, more discussion, and investing in more precautions, and we will continue to be ready for potential heat waves, which we know are likely,” says Dr. Leber.

Preparations were well coordinated, with interprofessional team training conducted for onsite personnel. “In collaboration with the Department of Emergency Medicine’s (EMS) Simulation Teaching and Research (STAR) Center, the medical team from Mount Sinai collaborated with the onsite EMS providers, court attendants, tournament officials, security personnel, and the New York City Fire Department to conduct onsite emergency drills to prepare for on-court emergency situations,” Dr. Leber notes.

These drills used the new STAR Center ambulance to facilitate the use of high-technology manikins from the STAR Center along with their expertise on conducting simulations and debriefing to help prepare for on-court emergencies. Teams rehearsed a variety of scenarios, including cardiac arrest, the use of the defibrillators, and transporting patients to definitive care.

“Talking through scenarios allows us to think through possible situations, but actually practicing as a team with realistic manikins and the actual equipment we use on players brings a new dimension to our preparations,” Dr. Leber says. “We may be the only major tennis tournament in the world to use high-technology manikins in the preparation for onsite emergencies.”

As Mount Sinai continues to expand its repository of vital services to the US Open Tennis Championships—including emergency medicine, radiology, internal medicine, mental health, and gynecology—it has developed unparalleled insight into the unique needs of hundreds of athletes who compete at the tournament from around the world. The team has honed much of that insight from relationships built over a decade with players, staff, physiotherapists, and the USTA, explains Dr. Leber.

“They’ve grown to trust us, and as a result, we have an excellent working relationship that helps make the US Open Tennis Championships one of the greatest—and safest—sporting events in the world,” she says.