Medical Time Out - A Tactic

Now recently on some threads has been discussions of MTO's. I know that one player has been the subject of these, but I might also mention that a few years ago on past forums people alluded to Djokovic taking MTO's during matches he was losing and that also in recent time we have had Fognini who called one at the recent FO and we saw Montanes lose composure and also Berrer lost composure against Murray. After some research on the ITF website regarding the rule. Now I would like to debate this and see what peoples thoughts are on the MTO rule and whether there needs to be changes or amendments made to it or whether the rule needs to be upheld with greater authority by the umpires, or whether players use these as a 'tactic' to give them an advantage in a match. This is not to be a player bashing debate this is just to debate the law. Here is the official rule from the ITF website.

c. Medical Time-Out

A Medical Time-Out is allowed by the ITF Supervisor/Referee or Chair
Umpire when the Physiotherapist/Athletic Trainer has evaluated the player
and has determined that additional time for medical treatment is required.
The Medical Time-Out takes place during a change over or set break, unless
the Physiotherapist/Athletic Trainer determines that the player has developed
an acute medical condition that requires immediate medical treatment.
The Medical Time-Out begins when the Physiotherapist/Athletic Trainer is
ready to start treatment. At the discretion of the Physiotherapist/Athletic
Trainer, treatment during a Medical Time-Out may take place off-court, and
may proceed in conjunction with the Tournament Doctor. *
The Medical Time-Out is limited to three (3) minutes of treatment. However,
at professional events with prize money of $15,000 or less, the ITF
Supervisor/Referee may extend the time allowed for treatment if necessary.

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A player is allowed one (1) Medical Time-Out for each distinct treatable
medical condition. All clinical manifestations of heat illness shall be
considered as one (1) treatable medical condition. All treatable
musculoskeletal injuries that manifest as part of a kinetic chain continuum
shall be considered as one (1) treatable medical condition.
Muscle Cramping: A player may receive treatment for muscle cramping only
during the time allotted for change of ends and/or set breaks. Players may not
receive a Medical Time-Out for muscle cramping.
In cases where there is doubt about whether the player suffers from an acute
medical condition, non-acute medical condition inclusive of muscle
cramping, or non-treatable medical condition, the decision of the
Physiotherapist/Athletic Trainer, in conjunction with the Tournament Doctor,
if appropriate, is final. If the Physiotherapist/Athletic Trainer believes that the
player has heat illness, and if muscle cramping is one of the manifestations of
heat illness, then the muscle cramping may only be treated as part of the
recommended treatment by the Physiotherapist/Athletic Trainer for the heat
illness condition.

Note:
A player who has stopped play by claiming an acute medical condition, but is
determined by the Physiotherapist/Athletic Trainer and/or Tournament
Doctor to have muscle cramping, shall be ordered by the Chair Umpire to
resume play immediately.
If the player cannot continue playing due to severe muscle cramping, as
determined by the Physiotherapist/Athletic Trainer and/or Tournament
Doctor, he/she may forfeit the point(s)/game(s) needed to get to a change of
end or set-break in order to receive immediate evaluation, and treatment if
time allows. There may be a total of two (2) additional change of ends
treatments for muscle cramping in a match, not necessarily consecutive.
If it is determined by the Chair Umpire or ITF Supervisor/Referee that
gamesmanship was involved, then a Code Violation for Unsportsmanlike
Conduct could be issued.

A total of two (2) consecutive Medical Time-Outs may be allowed by the ITF
Supervisor/Referee or Chair Umpire for the special circumstance in which the
Physiotherapist/Athletic Trainer determines that the player has developed at
least two (2) distinct acute and treatable medical conditions. This may
include: a medical illness in conjunction with a musculoskeletal injury; two
or more acute and distinct musculoskeletal injuries. In such cases, the
Physiotherapist/Athletic Trainer will perform a medical evaluation for the
two or more treatable medical conditions during a single evaluation, and may
then determine that two consecutive Medical Time-Outs are required.

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d. Medical Treatment
A player may receive on-court medical treatment and/or supplies from the
Physiotherapist/Athletic Trainer and/or Tournament Doctor during any
changeover or set break. As a guideline, such medical treatment should be
limited to two (2) changeovers/set breaks for each treatable medical
condition, before or after a Medical Time-Out, and need not be consecutive.
Players may not receive medical treatment for non-treatable medical
conditions.

e. Penalty
After completion of a Medical Time-Out or medical treatment, any delay in
resumption of play shall be penalized by Code Violations for Delay of Game.
Any player abuse of this Medical Rule will be subject to penalty in
accordance with the Unsportsmanlike Conduct section of the Code of
Conduct.

Personally, i don't have much of problem with this rule, although the umpire's aren't consistent and it should be consistently appiled from start to finish. Even if this is used as a form of gamesmanship I don't really have a problem with it, although I doubt most players who use an MTO here and there are doing it dishonestly, maybe some are. Tennis is a psychological battle, and players have to be mentally tough enough to handle a little psyching out by the opposition or the crowd. I think the biggest thing that annoys me frankly is the constant toweling of themselves between points. Novak is my favorite player, and I respect the constant attention to personal hygiene but must you towel yourself after every point?

socal1976 wrote:Even if this is used as a form of gamesmanship I don't really have a problem with it, although I doubt most players who use an MTO here and there are doing it dishonestly, maybe some are. Tennis is a psychological battle, and players have to be mentally tough enough to handle a little psyching out by the opposition or the crowd

This is exactly what I think.......socal has worded it far better than I could have done : )


Solerina

Thanks Solerina!

I disagree.

Let's take the following example. Player A has player B completely on the ropes. He's worked extremely hard and employed an excellent strategy and executed fanatastically to reach this point. He is basically winning the match because he has outplayed his opponent. This may be the best match he has played in his young career.

At this late juncture (say at 2 sets and a break down) player B takes a medical timeout (for a non-existent injury - citing pain in the calf). This results in a considerable delay.

Player A cools off, loses his momentum, loses serve, loses the set and eventually the match.

This is not an uncommon scenario. Is it fair that player A should lose as a result of this obvious gamesmanship? Perhaps, player A just didn't have the experience to deal with such a situation. Player B knew that this may be the case and so deliberately exploited it.

I think this is at the very least poor sportsmanship.

Emancipator, tennis is a mental battle, look at the past champions, you have to overcome adversity. Fight through difficult draws, difficult crowds and maybe an opponent who is doing everything in his power to throw you off your game. Its competition in a brutal sense. The ability to mentally tough is required. And if a two minute MTO throws you off your game, well maybe you don't deserve to win.

I don't think there's much gamesmanship involved with regard to MTOs, although I think that certain (particularly women) players have made a habit of taking a comfort break at strategic points in matches, and that perhaps the practical implementation of rules on this should be looked at.

I'm sure we can all think of rare occasions where the MTO has had a psychological effect on a player, but (for example the Murray v Berrer match at RG), this is often because the opponent of the (genuinely) injured player tries to change how they were playing either in the hope of exploiting the injury or (as in Berrer's case) because they are too 'nice' and don't want to exploit an opponent's weakness.

Socal
In defence of Djokovic (and Murray, who is just as bad for towelling down), at least they don't have to adjust a wedgie between each point - you'd have thought with all the money Rafa has, he'd have been able to find underwear that fit

I am against MTOs for the reasons mentioned by emancipator.

In a 100m race, there is no MTOs, nor there is in boxing or most other sport.

For those who say it's a mental sport then it should be allowed, I am glad to tell them that it's also a physical sport. So If one player is not fit enough, he or she should just accept it and lose. As simple as that. Why woudl one get a massage while the other would get cold? not right is it?

The 2012 100m race is not going to wait for anyone. The date and time is set. Jut be ready!

MTOs is just another rule that is being abused. he more rules the more players are going to abuse it.

Let's get rid of them. No MTOs! 20 seconds only between points.

The problem with any accusations regarding sportmanship in MTO is, no one can know whether a player is in pain or not and requires it but the player taking it. You or any one can suspect it's tactical but it's all speculation. who are we to question the sincerity of a player taking MTO? We are not in their body.

And the only reason there are MTOs in tennis...is to preserve the "show" side of the sport. When we have a 1/4F, semi or more so a Final, organisers woudl hate to have to give the trophy without giving the opponent a chance to get back on his feet...but in theory its against the principle of fair competition and sport.

Look at the snooker rule about "foul and a miss". Referees are now obliged to apply a strict rule cause we don;t know whther the foul was intentional or not.

As long as the rule i the same for all...it;s fair.

Dont agree with the side show point at all. MTOs in themselves are not against fair play - infact they are designed to give ALL competitors a fair chance when mishaps happen.

We have to remember that MTOs cover all manner of aspects, not just strains - they also cover obvious things like blisters, nose bleeds, and problems with eyes like Nole had at WTF last year, etc. Are we saying that if a player has problems with these types of things they should not be allowed to be treated. Would seem bizarre a player having to quit for blisters because the MTO rule has been pulled...

But we'll never get black and white MTO application - the example of Fognini shows that. Not only was the timing dubious but the umpire couldnt tell the difference between a muscle strain and cramp. How are they supposed to judge these situations? So if we pull MTOs for that, what do we not pull MTOs for? And then it becomes a nightmare redrafting the rules. And if we pull the MTOs then matches will get stopped for all manner of fairly routine reasons.

I'm not against MTO's per se. If a player suffers an acute injury in a match he deserves the opportunity to have it treated, within a standard framework; after all, an acute injury could just be due to misfortune and not necessarily due to bad conditioning.

However, I don't agree with MTO's being used as a tactic, just as i don't agree with dubious comfort breaks being used as such. I do understand that it is very difficult to substantiate any claims of gamesmanship in such cases.

IF an MTO is used tactically (and only the offending player will really know if this is the case) then I think this is a breach of the regulations as they are supposed to be used to treat legitimate injuries. Furthermore, in principle, I would consider this to be bad sportsmanship, similar to a boxer spitting out his gumshield in order to buy more time.

Tenez wrote:I am against MTOs for the reasons mentioned by emancipator.

In a 100m race, there is no MTOs, nor there is in boxing or most other sport.

A 100m race lasts 10 seconds.

Boxers do get treatment for injuries at the end of every round.

Football has medical timeouts. So does rugby, hockey etc but these are for incidents that cause an injury.

For those who say it's a mental sport then it should be allowed, I am glad to tell them that it's also a physical sport. So If one player is not fit enough, he or she should just accept it and lose.

and so should their fans ... except when Federer gets beaten by Nadal only because the latter is fitter then there is something clearly wrong with the game of tennis, the balls, the racquets, the court size etc etc etc according to some .....

But I do partially agree, the primary purpose of a MTO should be to treat an easily treatable condition not to remedy a loss of condition due to a lack of match fitness. On the other hand I don't want to ever see a player cramping and writhing around in agony and no one coming to his/her assistance. That wouldn't be human.

I wouldn't want to see a Wimbledon final end after only a handful of games because a player sprains an ankle and isn't allowed to get it taped up.

I am with socal on this one. If a MTO is enough to put off a player in a winning position then quite frankly he he deserves to lose.

Half the time any furor that erupts about MTOs is by those opposing fans of the player calling it based on their negative views on that individual.

As has been said, most sports have a treatment time out for treatable conditions and tennis as an individual sport, ought to have that for the players.

I agree - if MTOs were a real known issue I'm pretty sure players, umpires and ATP tour would complain about it and things would have changed by now. I also agree that mentally the top players should be able to handle it.

icecold wrote:
Football has medical timeouts.

Really? Next time you play football ask the ref for a medical timeout, he'll tell you to step outside the lines so the game can go on.

gallery play wrote:

icecold wrote:
Football has medical timeouts.

Really? Next time you play football ask the ref for a medical timeout, he'll tell you to step outside the lines so the game can go on.

American Football??

gallery play wrote:Really? Next time you play football ask the ref for a medical timeout, he'll tell you to step outside the lines so the game can go on.

Hilarious, what is the umpire going to do, ask the other guy to keep serving during treatment?
Besides which footballers are always feigning injury after tackles to stop the flow of play, or get players booked or simply buy time later in games. Football is such a paragon of virtue.

Otherwise, the two sports arent really comparable - one has 22 players on the pitch, the other 2.
Therefore, play has to stop during a tennis MTO!

Its up to the umpire to decide if its necessary or an abuse of the rule.

lydian wrote:

gallery play wrote:Really? Next time you play football ask the ref for a medical timeout, he'll tell you to step outside the lines so the game can go on.

Hilarious, what is the umpire going to do, ask the other guy to keep serving during treatment?

Like i said, the MTO does not exists in football like it does in tennis. So Icecold came up with a wrong comparison.
Look, you seemed to be annoyed, give it a rest

One player who seems to have turned the corner as far as MTO's are concerned is Novak, who was for a while "the king of the mto's"

Perhaps all players should go on his new diet seems to have cured him.

Are MTOs endemic in tennis? I don't think so. I still think its more about the fans.

Medical time outs don't exist officially in football/soccer but players are allowed time on the pitch should they claim injury or have obvious ones and the medical team is allowed time on the pitch to come and assess or see to the player first. But as said football is a team sport.

I'm not annoyed GP but thanks for the concern

sportslover, I agree that Novak isnt pulling these like before - this new gluten free diet has done wonders for his fitness levels and powers of recovery.

The other issue here is whether toilet breaks are tactically used?

With regard to Toilet breaks lydian the amount of liquids these guys take onboard during a match is quite considerable.

Rafa & Novak for example probably runs a lot of it off with the amount of court coverage.

Whereas the likes of Soderling & Del Potro don't so they would probably require one, more than some of the others

I would not mind "buying" a MTO in exchange of a point, or a game. That would certainly prevent the gamesmanship abuse we are obvisouly seeing when high stakes are involved.