Roger Federer dismisses Pat Cash’s ‘legal cheating’ claims
Roger Federer has hit back at Pat Cash for claiming that he had called for a medical timeout during the final of the Australian Open against Rafael Nadal because he was tired. Federer said he felt pain in his right thigh and that he was normally the “last guy to call for a medical timeout”.
During Sunday's epic final Federer took a medical timeout at the start of the fifth set before returning to win the match 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Australian tennis legend Pat Cash criticized Federer’s move to take the medical timeout, labeling it as a form of ‘legal cheating’.
"You can't just stop a marathon if you're tired... I can't stress how bad this has been supervised or looked at by the medical team here in the whole tour. It's wrong, wrong and wrong. It's cheating and it's being allowed. It's legal cheating, but it's still not right," Cash said on BBC radio.
Federer, who won his 18th grand slam singles title, has dismissed these claims, though. "I also think we shouldn't be using these rules or abusing the system. I think I've led the way for 20 years," he said.
"So I think to be critical there is exaggerating. I'm the last guy to call a medical timeout. So I don't know what he's (Cash) talking about.”
The 35-year-old said that he was feeling a lot of pain on his right thigh – an issue that he has faced throughout the tournament. Federer said that the pain became worse during his semi-final clash against Stan Wawrinka.
"After he (Wawrinka) took a medical timeout, I thought I could also take one for a change and see if actually something like a massage during the match is actually going to help me.
"It did a little bit potentially. I'm not sure. And then I felt my quad midway through the second set, and the groin started to hurt midway through the third set."
The five-time Australian Open champion, who came back from an injury layoff of six months to become the oldest grand slam winner in 45 years, later said, "We're going to be partying like rock stars tonight, I can tell you that.”
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