Tourte chose not to start the serve clock when the match was stopped for the first time, in what appeared to be a show of leniency that some players have claimed is afforded to only the top players. In contrast, the same discretion was not shown to Jakub Mensik on Wednesday when he was suffering with cramp and he lost two first serves because of the time taken between the points.
Anne Keothavong, Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup captain, said on TNT: “At 5-4 0-40, the umpire came down and asked Jannik what he wanted.
“She said: ‘I can give you a warning, I can give you a point deduction and point penalty, or you can call the physio, and you can be evaluated.’ But I don’t understand why she even gave him the options.
“She’s got to give him a point penalty first. He’s got to be the one who goes up to her and asks for the physio. She shouldn’t have been giving him those options. Of course, he asked for the physio.
“He is there at 0-40 in the game, goes off court for 10 minutes and he’s just being evaluated. He’s in a room with AC [air conditioning] being evaluated, not even being treated. And the physio can take as long as they want to evaluate a player.
“She gave him all those options. Which is just mind boggling.”
According to the grand slam rulebook, players are permitted to receive medical treatment “during any changeover or set break” and that “as a guideline, such medical treatment should be limited to two changeovers/set breaks for each treatable medical condition”.
The French Tennis Federation has been contacted for comment.
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