NEW YORK -- It's time for the United States Tennis Association to adopt a coherent, transparent heat policy to manage the kind of conditions that are threatening to ruin both the player and fan experiences early in this US Open.

Simply, it could be modeled on the extreme heat policy already used by the Australian Open.

On Tuesday, afternoon temperatures at the National Tennis Center reached 98 degrees and the heat index touched 107, leading to retirements, numerous complaints of heat-related illness among players and fans -- and an on-the-fly revision of the actual rules governing US Open play.

Leonardo Mayer, who retired in the fourth set of his match with Laslo Djere because of heat-related issues, said after he left the court:

"I think we should no longer play five sets," Mayer said in Spanish. "That's my opinion, I think that's the past. They won't stop until someone dies. It's incredible -- matches become ugly. The only way [to solve this] is to shorten them."

Worse yet, conditions are expected to be as bad, if not worse, on Wednesday.

Players were desperate to deal with the heat, and Novak Djokovic tried anything he could. TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images

The solution embraced at the Australian Open is the official extreme heat policy, which combines air temperature and humidity to produce something called a wet bulb globe temperature. A WBGT reading of 32.5 with the temperature above 104 degrees Fahrenheit triggers a suspension in play and the closure of the roofed stadia, where matches continue under the air-conditioning.

The only concession to the predicted heat at the US Open on Tuesday was the tournament's approval of the WTA's own heat policy -- the ATP has none -- which allows for a 10-minute break after the second set in the event that either player requests it.

But by midday, concerned officials realized something had to be done. At 1 p.m. the USTA officially announced that the men would be allowed a 10-minute break in singles matches between the third and fourth sets. During the break, players could do pretty much anything they wanted, with the exception of conferring with their coaches.