Ash Barty should have won her Australian Open quarter-final against the Czech Republic’s Karolina Muchova.
She’s not the sort of person to make excuses but she has every right to be annoyed by how her concentration was broken by a medical timeout in the second set.
Barty had just cruised through the first set in 24 minutes and had a break in the second when Muchova looked distraught at the change of ends.
She was visibly distressed and had a quick health check on court.
They recorded her temperature and checked her blood pressure before she was whisked away for a timeout.
Thirteen minutes later she was back. Had it been a little longer, Barty would have been allowed to warm up again for five minutes to get her rhythm back.
Instead, the match completely changed.
Muchova hardly made a mistake and Barty was the one slightly off her game. In the best of three sets it doesn’t take much for the momentum to completely swing and that’s exactly what happened.
Credit has to go to Muchova for regaining her composure to beat the world number one, but one has to question how that composure was allowed to be regained.
Barty was gracious in defeat.
“It’s completely within the rules for her to take it. It shouldn’t be a massive turning point in the match. I’m disappointed that it did become a turning point,” she said.
Medical timeouts have been controversial for a long time in grand slam tennis on both the men’s and women’s tour.
Novak Djokovic raised eyebrows several times for the timing of some of his medical timeouts including the 2016 US Open Final.
The rules are fairly vague about when you can call for a medical timeout.
“A medical condition is a medical illness or a musculoskeletal injury that warrants medical evaluation and/or medical treatment by the Sports Physiotherapist (also known as the Primary Health Care Provider) during the warm-up or the match.”
The rules go on to state that a medical timeout is not permitted for general fatigue/or if the condition can’t be treated appropriately in the timeframe.
Commentators initially thought that Muchova may have had a neck injury but the Czech player didn’t mention that at all in her post-match interview with Jim Courier.
“I was a bit lost on the court and my head was spinning so I took a break,” she said.
“It helped me.”
This response will put the microscope back on the unfair advantage of medical timeouts.
By her own admission, Muchova wanted to shorten the points when she returned from the break because Barty had won all the long rallies and it was gruelling for the Czech 25th seed. She was, in effect, acknowledging that Barty’s play was causing her to become fatigued.
We don’t know exactly what treatment Muchova received but there needs to be far more scrutiny of the medical timeout process. If she simply received electrolytes, a Panadol and a cool pack on her head why couldn’t this be done courtside in the usual sit-down time?
Why should Ash Barty essentially get penalised for causing her opponent to be in a state of confusion and fatigue?
In professional cricket, administrators have outlawed the use of runners because the rules were being exploited.
Something similar must be done in professional tennis with medical timeouts. Maybe it’s as simple as mandating that if you can’t get treated in the three minutes in each change of ends then sadly you have to retire.
Sure, it’s likely to result in far more retirements in grand slam matches but it’s a small price to pay for the current system which leaves players’ intentions open for questioning.
captainpale
Roar Rookie
I agree with this. I have seen other players use the tactic against Djocovich to great success. When things started going south i dont know why Barty didnt start clutching her hamstring and limping a bit, buy herself some time to compose herself. After all if the rules are there to be exploited....
Kev
Roar Rookie
I didn’t play into anything but nice try at gloating. He explained the distinction but he’s still wrong and so are you. There’s a massive difference between Federer doing it because he’s taken the “if you can’t beat ’em join ’em” approach against a player who takes MTO’s every time they struggle in a match. In any case, you two keep ignoring the bigger issue which is that MTO’s are player initiated and open to abuse. Scrap them altogether or bring them at the end of each set for both players and then this issue goes away.
Steve
Guest
and the distinction was explained to you, you played right into Dean's hand with your weak handed defence of Federer, just because others do something wrong DOES NOT make it acceptable.
Paul
Roar Guru
I'd have thought an injury timeout of no more than 5 minutes on court, could apply and a limit placed on the number of timeouts per set or per match. Players with cramp, for example, can and should be able to be treated on court. If need be a small modesty tent can be set up, but there should be no need to go into a change room. If a player needs more than 5 minutes and/or has to leave the court for treatment, that should be the end of the match.
malibu77
Roar Rookie
Let's not cloud over the fact that this was a truly horrendous loss by Barty. She will not get a better chance to make the AO final again. This is a match she should never have lost from a set and break up medical time outs (MTO) or not. However on the topic of the MTO, how about fighting fire with fire? Once Barty lost the second set and could surely sense momentum had changed, why not also take a MTO? Maybe get her leg strapping checked out? Maybe she also felt dizzy (a la Muchova) or had breathing difficulties or back spasms (a la Djokovic)? I know that two wrongs don't make a right but surely what is good for the goose is good for the gander :)
PeteB
Roar Rookie
Yeah they’re fakers
JGK
Roar Guru
She is certainly good value to back to lose after she wins the first set in a quarter final or later.
JGK
Roar Guru
Not that odd - Djokovic does it nearly every final or semi final in a Grand Slam.
PeteB
Roar Rookie
Very odd for a player to need a medical timeout and recover so quickly to absolutely dominate the match. Does seem like a tactical ploy. On the other hand Barty should have been good enough to win regardless. It’s not like her opponent received something to enhance her performance is it.
Kev
Roar Rookie
Ahh so that’s what it’s really about. Your dislike of Federer. Whatever. The distinction has been explained to you several times now. Don’t want to accept it? Oh well.
Dean F
Guest
One rule for the crowd darling Federer another for everyone else.
Anthony
Guest
Barty was beaten by a better player on the day. Ash, to her credit, acknowledged this. Stop trying to denigrate the rightful winner because she isn’t an aussie.
Kev
Roar Rookie
So what if it’s strategic. “He doesn’t do it as much as others” is a legit response whether you like it or not. I don’t get why you find it so hard to accept that Federer doing it because everyone else is, is quite different to someone who knows that these rules can be bent and does it every opportunity they get. You can get your nose bent out of joint over Federer doing this all you want but that ignores the bigger issue. The bigger issue is that players abusing medical timeouts and bathroom breaks is tennis’ worst kept secret and the fact that Barty lost doesn’t make your assertion that it’s simply a case of “sour grapes” correct. Both Barty choking and Muchova deliberately taking a MTO regain composure can be true at the same time. I don’t know what the solution is. As long as these MTO’s/bathroom breaks are at the discretion of the player to initiate there will always be a question over the legitimacy of it. One option is to scrap these MTO’s and bathroom breaks but that may result in unintended consequences. The other is to allow for mandatory MTO’s/bathroom breaks at set times e.g end of a set.
Republican
Guest
What a farce; what an abuse of so called strategy by Barty's adversary but is anyone really surprised? Of course this is what 'sport' is all about at the elite tier, across all codes and disciplines today. There is nothing virtuous about any facet of 'sport' since it has devolved a symbiosis of our plutocratic society. The almighty dollar is our sole tenet while 'sport' is the new opium of the people, certainly in re. to this nation. Aside to this it is the height of political hubris and abuse of power that exposes the double standard of our COVID days. That this event was afforded any oxygen to be staged, when artists across the nation (as only one analogy) continue to barely keep their respective heads above H20 under such austerity. Says so much about Australian society sadly.
Dean F
Guest
Imagine how many classic 5 setter we'd have been robbed of over the years if players couldn't take a MTO. Barty lost fair and square. She has a habit of blowing up like this.
matth
Roar Guru
And I believe she acknowledged that.
Kev
Roar Rookie
Why can't both things be true? Barty choked and Muchova used a medical timeout to try to regain composure and momentum. It's easy to say that this is a case of sour grapes because it occurred to an Australian player but it doesn't change the fact that tennis has long had a problem with players using bathroom breaks, medical timeouts and other things to try to change the momentum of a match. It's the worst kept secret in tennis. I've been following the tennis for years and I think players are coddled compared to athletes in other sports. They whinge at the slightest amount of noise during a serve or rally and yet in football codes, players have to put up with 100,000 screaming at them and they're able to deal with it and they get medical timeouts and bathroom breaks when plenty of other sports don't allow their athletes that degree of leeway. As long as these breaks/timeouts are at the discretion of a player there will always be a question of whether it is legitimate or not so that leaves the question of how to deal with it. One option is to scrap them altogether and tell players to deal with it. If you're injured it's up to you to decide if you want to go on or retire. Another option is to bring in mandatory bathroom breaks and medical timeouts for both players at different times throughout the match whether needed or not that way there's no issue over fairness.
Mango Jack
Roar Guru
Yep, players at her level need to be able to deal with these interruptions, whether genuine or not
Mango Jack
Roar Guru
This issue highlights why I hate the timeout in sports like basketball. It's a cheap tactic designed to spoil your opponent's momentum that they have earned through skill. Being able to absorb pressure and turn a game around is a character revealing aspect of sport.
Mango Jack
Roar Guru
Most team sports allow for substitution in cases of injury. In the case of athletics (also swimming), where there are 8 or so individuals competing in a timed event as part of a program, it would be impractical to cater for an injury during competition, as you can't simply restart a race as you can a game of tennis.