The Philippine Davis Cup team will have to play extra “hot” if they want to beat Japan in their Asian Oceana Zone Group I tie on March 5-7 at the Namihaya Dome in Osaka.

For one, the freezing weather condition in Osaka is likely to affect their game, according to Philippine Tennis Association (Philta) vice president Randy Villanueva said.

“The weather will be tough. It’s going to be a disadvantage for us,” said Villanueva. “They have to do a lot of adjustments.

Although Cecil Mamiit and Treat Huey are based in the United States where the climate is cooler compared to the tropical heat in Manila, they still have to make some adjustments since the temperature there could dip as low as 2 degrees Celsius.

According to Villanueva there is also a possibility there will be rains at the time of their tie.

Aside from Mamiit and Huey, other members of the team are Johnny Arcilla and Francis Casey Alcantara.

The Japan Meteorogical Agency reveals that minimum and maximum temperatures during March drop from 13 to 5 degrees Celsius.

Villanueva said weather conditions have been a great factor during matches, and are being used by host countries to their advantage.

Villanueva, however, believes that Mamiit, Huey and Alcantara can adjust easily to Osaka’s weather condition since they’ve been traveling regularly abroad.

Aside from that, the Japanese, according to Villanueva are more adept playing on the hardcourt rather than on the carpet surface.

“Most of the Japanese players are hardcourt players, so patas lang siguro ang laban when it comes to court surface,” Villanueva said.

Overall, the RP team has won two of the five ties played on a carpet surface, the most recent one was against New Zealand in 2007 where it romped to a 5-0 win.

The Japanese hold a 16-9 advantage over the Filipinos in their head-to-head duel in the Davis Cup.