All about the 5000 bananas eaten players at Australian Open, and why Cavendish variety of fruit is under threat | Tennis News

Players at the Australian Open polished off about 200 kilograms of bananas every day in the first week, ABC reported. Though the sight is a throwback best associated with Rafael Nadal, who was sorely missed for the first time at Melbourne, the universal fruit is of course a go-to replenishment for every tennis pro.
While scientifically designed sports drinks for rehydrations and energy gels for soreness have gained visibility especially in the hot humid first summer Slam of the season, dietitians at the Oz Open can’t stop talking about the humble banana.
ABC quoted Lauren Stribley, in-house dietitian at Sports Dietitians Australia, as saying that bananas are packed full of essential nutrients for generating energy during a match, as they contain ‘carbohydrates for energy, fibre to help absorb nutrients, and minerals such as magnesium and potassium to help keep muscle cramps at bay.’
Steibley added that fuelling not just of muscles, but also to power the brain in terms of concentration and decision making, was necessary.
Stribley, who advises the Port Adelaide AFLW team and South Australian cricket’s women’s program, was quoted as saying that sports foods were designed to be easily digestible and portable, but bananas remained eternal favourites in the nutrition race. “As sports dietitians, we tend to go for the food first options. Bananas are low GI — low glycaemic index — which means they’ll provide you with a longer lasting energy. And particularly with international athletes who travel the world, you can get bananas anywhere,” ABC quoted her.
Crisis of the Cavendish bananas
ABC explained that there are more than 1,000 types of bananas in the world, but only one — the Cavendish — dominates global markets, with 50 billion tonnes of Cavendish grown worldwide each year. This variety is eaten in Australia and supplied to the United States and Europe. Australia’s largest banana producing state, Queensland, will provide more than 5,000 Cavendish bananas will be provided to Australian Open players this month, all sourced from the largest banana producing state, Queensland.
However the Cavendish bananas are under immense threat, the ABC reported, from a soil-borne fungus known as Panama disease. It led banana growers outside Darwin, to partner with scients to develop a Panama disease-resant banana plant.
ABC quoted grower Mark Smith of NT Country Hour as saying, “It’s one of the five staples — you’ve got wheat, barley, rice, potatoes and bananas — so a lot of people rely on bananas as domestic food.”
The genetically modified variety was given regulatory approval for human consumption but they won’t be in sale in stores as thegenetically modified Cavendish is considered only a worst-case “back-up ” in the “event that it is game, set, match to Panama disease”, the ABC said.
The famous Slam though, got through another year with players relying on good ol’ fruit to keep cramps at bay.