Vanquished men's No.8 seed Mardy Fish has voiced his frustration after his second round Australian Open opponent Alejandro Falla used a trainer to treat cramps during his upset victory over the American.
Fish complained vociferously to chair umpire Enric Molina during a tense third set of the match on Show Court Three after Falla called for the trainer on multiple occasions.
The veteran continued his rant at the post-match press conference, saying that there needed to be a clear rule on whether a player can get treatment for cramping during a match.
"I mean, you can ask the chair umpire, which I did. I was under the impression that you can't get treatment for cramps. I guess you can. I guess you can in the changeovers, and then you can only do it twice," he said.
"I thought he was out there for or five times, but I guess he wasn't. So, you know, I didn't know that. I just assumed you can't get treatment for cramps anymore."
Fish's outburst comes just two days after Steve Darcis was forced to retire with sever cramps while leading his first round match against Florent Serra.
Fish said he believed the onus should be on the player to prepare better for matches to reduce the likelihood that they are going to cramp.
"I mean, for someone who in the latter stages of their career prides themselves for fitness, I don't enjoy that at all. I have a hard time calling the trainer, period, for anything," he said.
"First of all, I wouldn't want the other guy to know that I was hurting in the first place. Yeah, to be able to get help for lack of fitness probably. I mean, if you would have saw how much water I drank in the past three days just to hydrate to make sure that something like that didn't happen, you know, I did all the right things there."
"I'm not feeling great, either. It was three hours and it's pretty hot out. It is what it is."
He also suggested that Falla's tactics were as much about gamesmanship as about seeking treatment.
"It seems like nowadays we're going towards fitness is such a big part of the game now. They're making the balls bigger and heavier. You know, they're making it to where it's such a physical match, physical game now, that, you're going to have guys that are going to abuse that a lot," he said.
"I thought he was having some physical issues. But then in between, you know, on every point, you know, he was totally fine."
The 30-year-old admitted the frustration of the moment combined with the delicate position he found himself in had been a distraction.
"That stuff, when you think someone is cramping or ailing physically, you sort of change your game a tiny bit. I think it had a significant bearing on the third set, for sure," he said.
"It's my responsibility to put it behind me. But I'm a human being. I see that guy's called the trainer three, four times, however many times he was out there. It's hot. And I'm down two sets to Love, and I'm looking for anything to sort of gain the momentum a little bit."