NEW YORK - Rafael Nadal rolled his head back, squeezed his eyes shut, covered his contorted face with his left arm and leaned awkwardly in the leather chair used by players during U.S. Open news conferences.
Frozen by the leg cramps that simultaneously hit his right hamstring and thigh about two hours after he'd won his third-round match, Nadal stopped taking reporters' questions and paused between deep breaths to plead in Spanish, "Can you call a trainer for me, please?"
Then slowly - and frighteningly to those watching, because it was unclear at that moment to anyone but Nadal himself exactly what was wrong - the defending champion slithered out of the chair and went down to the ground, hidden from view by a table. Within minutes, Nadal was sitting up, and then standing, after being given bags of ice to soothe his painful leg and bottles of water and Gatorade to drink.
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Even if it all amounted to nothing serious from a medical standpoint - as Nadal and his manager would later insist, chuckling - it was a bizarre scene, one at least as memorable as anything that took place on court Sunday at the year's last Grand Slam tournament.
"It's bad luck it happened here," Nadal said, "and not in the locker room."
His point was that tennis players often deal with cramps, particularly after competing in the sort of conditions Nadal did while beating 2002 Wimbledon runner-up David Nalbandian 7-6 (5), 6-1, 7-5 on a muggy afternoon with the temperature in the 80s.
"It's just something that happens. It's just unfortunate it happened in front of you all," 2003 U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick told reporters after a straight-set victory over Julien Benneteau to get to the fourth round. "Every single player in there has had that happen before. Every single one. What we do - we run around, run miles and miles and miles and miles on the tennis court in nasty weather - (and) you throw nerves in there. I mean, it happens. As long as it doesn't happen during a match, you're fine."
With No. 28 John Isner and unseeded Donald Young also winning Sunday, and No. 8 Mardy Fish advancing Saturday, Roddick is part of the first quartet of American men to reach the U.S. Open's fourth round since 2003.
Nadal wasn't the only player who appeared to be bothered by Sunday's heat and humidity: No. 26 Flavia Pennetta of Italy felt as though she needed to throw up right out there on court during her 6-4, 7-6 (6) victory over No. 13 Peng Shuai.
"It was a bunch of things: the heat, the tension," said Pennetta, who knocked off three-time major champion Maria Sharapova in the third round. "It's not normal, but it happens."
Pennetta now plays Angelique Kerber of Germany, who defeated Monica Niculescu of Romania 6-4, 6-3.
Fifth-seeded Sam Stosur survived for a 6-2, 6-7 (15), 6-3 victory Sunday night over No. 25 Maria Kirilenko The 17-15 score in the second-set tiebreaker was the longest tiebreaker played by two women at any Grand Slam tournament, according to the WTA.
Today
• What: Fourth round
• TV: 8 a.m., Ch 13; 4 p.m., ESPN2
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