"Recover" Your Condition
For many years until a Japanese player, Shuzo Matsuoka, suffered severe cramps during a show court match at the U.S. Open, players were not allowed to be treated for “loss of condition”, i.e. cramps. Matsuoka was writhing in pain and lying completely paralyzed by cramps on the ground on the baseline. No trainer was allowed to attend to him until he was eventually defaulted after several time violations for not being able to play. The rule was subsequently changed so that now players can be treated immediately, as was done with Serena Williams on Monday at Wimbledon, and often can resume and
sometimes win the match. It is clearly safer to treat a player in distress rather than to allow him or her to develop even more serious cramps or other problems. However, cramps usually occur due to a lack of fluids, minerals or conditioning and/or nerves. All of these conditions are generally preventable and controllable. Therefore, is it fair to allow a player to continue playing once he or she has been treated and recovered enough to resume playing? Yes, because in the end players are treated for various injuries and illnesses during and between matches all the time these days. Fans want to see matches completed even if a player is not 100% fit because that is better than a match ending due to an injury, illness or “loss of condition.” If you’ve ever cramped, then you’d realize that you’d do whatever you need to do to not let it happen again… trust me, it is a painful and scary feeling that a player never wants to repeat.
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