Moving to the USA from Europe, I was amazed at how long the final few minutes of a baseball or football game could last
 - and how often the whole game came to a sudden stop while participants took a rest on the sidelines and discussed strategy.
In other words, I was introduced to that bastion of American sports - the 'time out'.

But a tennis match match was different.
Once underway, the game continued, no matter how extreme the pressure or exhaustion, until it was won - and lost.

I thought about those days as I watched the Monte Carlo Masters last week - and watched as player after player decided to take a rest and call for the trainer for a massage and refreshing drink when the pressure got a little too intense.

The rule that allows this to happen allows a player to take a 'time out' for an injury. An 'injury' under this rule also includes conditions resulting from lack of physical condition - such as cramping. A medical time out may be taken at any time (after an exhausting point) and a player does not have to wait until the end of a game. He is allowed to sit and rest while a trainer is called to the court and then makes a diagnosis. This process can take quite some time. Three minutes are then allowed for 'treatment'. Treatment for cramps generally includes massage, an electrolyte drink and salt tablets - none of which, in the opinion of a sports medical specialist, has any curative effect beyond what a player at a professional level should already be doing to prevent dehydration.

It is hard to blame a player for taking advantage of a rule that allows them to escape from a beating and take time to recover.

But it is equally hard to understand why the governing body of the sport should permit a rule to remain in force that allows a player to take a break and recover from his opponent's superior play.

Exhausting your opponent at the professional level takes considerable effort - and a player risks exhaustion himself to attempt it.
He has earned the right of his sport not to put a rule in place that makes his struggle in vain.

The rules also provide for a time-out not being permitted in cases of general fatigue or for a non-treatable condition.

Is it time for the trainers to have the courage to determine that a player does not have a medically treatable condition
or is suffering from general fatigue and advise the chair umpire that a medical time-out is not appropriate?
Should there be a penalty for claiming a medical time-out when unwarranted?
Should the rules be changed to avoid this abuse?

Yes, Yes and Yes...!