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Corentin Moutet was slapped with a time violation warning when he fell to the floor while playing through injury and cramps in Lyon. The world No. 94 was taken to a deciding set against seventh seed Ugo Humbert, and raced into an early break lead at 2-0. But he suddenly stopped moving properly and couldn’t push off on serve, slicing the ball into the court as break-back points came and went for Humbert. Moutet called the physio, who waited courtside to come out at the next changeover.
But the physio came out earlier than planned, as Moutet jumped to reach an overhead at deuce, and then dropped to the floor. “Is he cramping?” commentator Mikey Perera said as Moutet rolled around the ground and Humbert came over to check on him.
“I think that might be the situation. He’s in a bad way here. Moutet is on the ground, he’s trying to make his way back up, and he’s struggling right now.”
The physio had to walk into the middle of the court to help Moutet up, and he started walking back to the baseline to play on when he was hit with a time violation. Boos rang out around Centre Court as the 27-year-old hobbled to the umpire’s chair to argue.
“I basically stood up directly to play,” Moutet said, asking for the supervisor and continuing the conversation in French. “The bottom line is, you’ve got to play in 25 seconds. Once the serve clock starts, you’ve got to start. You’ve got to be fair to both players, you’ve got to be fair to Humbert,” co-commentator Robbie Koenig added.
Moutet played on and got broken, and then called the physio for a full three-minute medical timeout. As he returned to his bench, the French ace continued muttering to umpire Timo Janzen. “Oh my goodness, you’re insane,” he said.
Tennis players cannot have full medical timeouts for cramps. However, the world No. 94 had treatment for his wrist, an injury he has been carrying throughout the season, and not for the cramping in his thighs.
After receiving treatment on his wrist, Moutet was suddenly back in the match. Humbert played a sloppy game to get broken, giving his opponent a 3-1 lead.
But the lower-ranked Frenchman started cramping again in the next game and the No. 7 seed broke straight back. At the next changeover, while leading 3-2 on serve, Moutet did not sit down, instead pacing around near his bench in fear that the cramps would return.
He still played on, and did not sit down during the next few changeovers to avoid seizing up. Despite his physical ailments, Moutet still made it to a deciding tiebreak, which he won to complete a 6-2 4-6 7-6(4) victory before falling to the floor again.
Earlier this year, Moutet announced that he had been playing through a wrist injury and needed to rest. “I’ve been dealing with wrist pain since last November,” he wrote. “It’s never easy to step away, but I need to listen to my body and give it the time it needs.”
The former world No. 30 then skipped the Cincinnati Open but returned for the US Open, though he was forced to retire in the first round. This was his first appearance since.
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