Assessment of Biologically Effective Solar Ultraviolet Exposures for Court Staff and Competitors During a Major...

Sport is an integral and enduring part of many societies, such as Australia. Participation in outdoor sports, such as tennis, comes with a very real risk of dangerous solar ultraviolet exposure which can result in erythema (sunburn), serious conditions such as skin cancer, including melanoma, and eye conditions such as cataracts and pterygium. This study remotely assesses the effective ultraviolet exposures in response to the increased sun safety awareness at a major summertime tennis tournament in Australia. The assessment only uses publicly accessible data and information. It was found that tournament organizers have effectively adopted sun-safe protocols into the uniform policy that the court officials (judges and ball kids) are mandated to follow. The combination of sun-participant geometry and the photoprotection provided by uniforms significantly reduced the ambient ultraviolet exposure, which was recorded to be as high as 9.9 SED h^-1 , to just 1.0 and 0.5 SED h^-1 for ball kids and judges, respectively, compared to up to 2.0 SED h^-1 for players. Even though caution is needed against complacency with sun safety, with the need for the court officials and the players to still apply sunscreen, the court officials provided persistent visual role modeling of sun-safe behaviors.