If there’s one problem Terence Atmane just can’t seem to shake this year, it’s on-court cramping. Just two months ago in Madrid, the Frenchman was left on the ground by severe cramps during his Round of 64 match. Now, the same issue has followed him to Flushing Meadows in his US Open opener, and this time, things took an even worse turn.

The Frenchman was engaged in a fifth-set battle against Jaume Munar, but had to call for the physio in the final set to receive treatment on his leg. However, the rules left Atmane with limited options. Since players cannot take a standard Medical Time Out for muscle cramping, he was required to consult the on-call physio instead. What followed, however, was a heated verbal exchange between the Frenchman and the physio.

“Excuse me, can you please give me treatment and then stop acting stupid?.. Like no, but is it, is it possible to have common sense?.. I tell him I have pain..but it’s, it’s my body right?…what do you mean man?.. I’m telling you I have pain in both my legs”, Atmane was heard saying on court.

Atmane continued to explain his condition and added, “It’s not cramping, I have pain. Pain, not cramp, yeah, I know the rules. That’s why I am asking you, because I know I can’t get for cramp. Come back, come back real quick. What are your credentials?”

The incident took place when Atmane was 1-2 down in the fifth set, and he called for the physio during the changeover. The Frenchman had previously struggled with his leg in the third set as well, during which he took a medical timeout, but that did little to improve Atmane’s condition, who had to resort to underarm serves, and went on to lose the set 6-1.

There is a distinct protocol for players to follow when asking for on-court medical help by calling the physio. The player can ask the chair umpire to call for the physio only during changovers and set breaks, after which the physio has a limited time to speak with the player and diagnose the problem. If the physio deems it necessary, the player may take a one-time medical timeout of three minutes.

However, an interesting exception to these procedures is muscle cramping. In a sport where physical endurance is rewarded, granting medical timeouts and treatments for muscle cramping is considered an unfair advantage to a player who lacks physical conditioning compared to their opponents. If the physio determines that the player’s problem is due to cramps, he or she is well within the rules not to provide any treatment.

That left Atmane visibly frustrated, as the physio declined to treat him after assessing that his discomfort was caused by cramping. Moreover, Atmane had already endured a frighteningly similar ordeal in April during his Madrid Open clash with Ugo Humbert. After taking the opening set, the Frenchman was leading 4-2 in the second when his left thigh suddenly cramped, leaving him struggling even to walk. He leaned against the wall before eventually collapsing to the ground.

Somehow, Atmane managed to get back on his feet and continue, although the episode clearly took a physical toll. Looking back on the experience, he described it bluntly: “It was like getting through hell.” He also recalled how the cramps quickly spread, saying, “I started to cramp here, after it was there, it was going everywhere.”

With doctors and physios stepping in, there were genuine fears in the stands that Atmane would have to retire. The Frenchman admitted the situation left him panicking, explaining, “I was a bit panicking because I’m not really used to it, so I started to panic and I couldn’t breathe. I was just trying to survive.”

Yet somehow, he kept going, and eventually completed the match, beating Humbert in straight sets.

However, medical timeouts have always been a tricky subject in tennis, with players sometimes questioning whether they are being used to disrupt an opponent’s momentum. That tension surfaced during Atmane’s first-round clash at US Open, as his opponent, Jaume Munar, voiced his frustration to both the chair umpire and the match supervisor.

Terence Atmane’s Opponent Complains About the Frenchman Using Unfair Tactics

Before the Frenchman had his tiff with the physio in the fifth set, the Spaniard had his complaints to make in the first game of the fourth set. The elongated medical timeouts and bathroom breaks had already irked the Spaniard, who lost his composure when he felt that his opponent was receiving on-court coaching from his team.

“They’re talking. It happened two times this game. I just asked you the question because of that. I didn’t say nothing [on] the first point, the second. It’s the third. Why you don’t call it if you see it?,” Munar was heard saying to the chair umpire as well as the match supervisor who was called on-court by the Spaniard.

As per the new rules, players can receive coaching tips from their player boxes, provided they are short and precise, or use hand symbols or gestures. However, long tactical conversations during the match constitute a violation of the rules, something which Munar complained that Atmane was complicit in.

The match was itself a five-set classic that lasted over four hours. Despite Atmane winning the first couple of sets, it was Munar who completed a remarkable comeback, winning in the fifth set despite all the altercations and controversies surrounding him. The Spaniard is now set to face the 26th-seeded Arthur Rinderknech in the next round.