Readers question Blake's comments over temperature

	Like many of the competing players, James Blake is concerned by the soaring temperatures at the Australian Open. AP
	MAILBAG Jon Wertheim will answer questions from SI.com users in his mailbag every Wednesday. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

I disagree with James Blake's comments regarding the heat policy at the Aussie Open. He was quoted saying, "I think at some point we're going to run into trouble -- I'd hate to see someone go to the emergency room over a tennis match. We're here for a tennis tournament, not to see who can last in the heat longer." Isn't that precisely why the spectators are there? Notice, that fit professional athletes like Rafael Nadal and David Nalbandian will pass the heat test. Perhaps Maria Sharapova can give him a cookie for standing up for the unfit "professional athletes" unable to deal with the heat.
-- Justin Burke, Davis, Calif.

You guys usually are quite fond of Blake, but, if you'll pardon the pun here, he really took some heat on this one. I'd say email ran 20-to-1 against him on this. I'm not sure what's so offensive about his point. No one is saying, "We want air-conditioning and watercress sandwiches on changeovers." I think his point is that when the extreme temperatures occasion respiratory problems and dizziness, maybe it's time to look at the larger picture. Sounds reasonable to me. This has much less to do with fitness and conditioning than it does subjecting people to run around in conditions resembling an outdoor kiln.

Sam Querrey had a nice opening-round win against the 27th seed. What are the prospects for this 20-year-old?
-- Bob Diepold, Charlotte, N.C.

How about some midweek props to Querrey (for the straight guy), who also won his second rounder without dropping a set. He'll get a test from Tommy Robredo next, but if the serve is clicking, that's a conceivable upset, too. Querrey still needs some seasoning and fitness upgrades, but this is a terrific result for a young player, particularly one who wasn't much on the map as recently as a year ago.

I take issue with your last column stating Federer doesn't have any "gut check" wins. I'd like to suggest a rather famous five-set match Federer did win, over Pete Sampras at Wimbledon, if I'm not mistaken.
-- Alison Walker, Toronto

Point taken, though that was nearly six years ago. That match ended 7-5 in the fifth. Others of you mentioned Halle of last year and all the tiebreakers he wins.

You may have addressed this before, because I know people have complained about his pants, but why can't Nadal get shorts and undergarments that do not give him a wedgie? It's infuriating. Does he not know of the miraculous invention of the jock strap? Please, stop picking your butt on worldwide television!
-- Chad, Seattle

Say this about Nadal: He has an uncanny knack for adjusting on the fly. (Rim shot, please.) I love the nickname the British press has bestowed on him: knicker-picker. The bad news is that Nadal's serial undergarment tunneling has repulsed fans worldwide. The good news is that we hear he's been asked to throw out the first pitch at a San Diego Padres game.

I see that Lleyton Hewitt came back from two sets down yet again! I did some searching, but I couldn't find the stats. It seems to me he has come back from two sets down, or two to one, an inordinate number of times. Anyone got the numbers? And what's his overall five-set record? You just can't question the guy's heart, but it still a bit difficult to root for a man who makes Donald Trump look like a class act.
-- Gavin Spencer, New York City

Writes the ATP's Greg Sharko the Great: "Hewitt is now 22-9 career in five-set matches and has now won 11 of his last 12 five-setters since his comeback win (from 0-2) vs. Federer in the '03 Davis Cup semifinals. It was the third time he rallied from an 0-2 sets deficit. The other one was '01 Roland Garros (d. Guillermo Canas)."

By the way, here's Todd Woodbridge, never one to mince words, lighting into Lleyton.

Where in the world is the Moroccan brigade, Younes el Aynouai, Hicham Arazi and Karim Alami? Have they all retired?
-- Khairi Akbar, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Younes the Vowel Man is ranked inside the top 200 and reached the second round of Doha earlier this month. Arazi -- in that next tier after Fabricio Santoro for my drachmas -- played three futures and one challenger in '06, suggesting that he's nearing the end of the line. Alami is retired. For a country without much of a tennis history, what a golden era that was.

Marginalia

• It's an Andre Agassi sighting.

• Steve of Kalamazoo, Mich.: "Here's a recent Youtube find I thoroughly enjoyed between Margaret Court and Evonne Goolagong."

• Tom Gorman is inducting Stan Smith into the Southern Tennis Hall of Fame in Atlanta later this week.