SYDNEY, Australia -- Martina Navratilova has called for the Australian Open to be pushed back a month, warning that the January heat was taking a serious toll on players.

	“	It could take someone dying before things will change. ”
		— Martina Navratilova

"It could take someone dying before things will change, but I firmly believe the Australian Open should be put back until at least February," Navratilova wrote in a column for Monday's The Australian newspaper.

The season-opening Grand Slam in Melbourne starts Jan. 13. It arrives when players are just returning from year-end breaks and when temperatures can reach 104 degrees. The heat is more magnified at ground level on the Rebound Ace courts.

Navratilova won 56 Grand Slam titles, including 18 in singles, although she skipped the Australian Open after 1989 when it was switched from grass to Rebound Ace.

"I would have loved to have kept playing here (but) it's too hot in January," Navratilova, 46, said. "I think if they moved it a month it would be great for tennis and especially for the players.

"We've had people on (intravenous) treatment after matches recovering from extreme heat exhaustion."

Navratilova said a February tournament would also allow players more time to prepare.

The Australian Open isn't the only Grand Slam tournament that needs to be rescheduled, said Navratilova, who thinks there needs to be more time between the French Open and Wimbledon.

"Two weeks between clay and grass is not enough," she said.

Last week, Navratilova won her 167th doubles title, teaming with 17-year-old Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova to win the women's hardcourt tournament on the Gold Coast.

At 46 years, 2 months, 17 days, Navratilova was the oldest player in history to win a WTA Tour event.