U.S. Open notes: Nick Monroe’s scary spill, Marcos Baghdatis’ phone foul

For Nick Monroe, it wasn’t the way he wanted to make the highlights on Sunday.

The much-traveled doubles specialist did some more traveling, running wide for a shot on the Grandstand Court, flipping over the courtside barrier and landing on his head. These were scary moments for Monroe, his doubles partner Donald Young, their opponents and the crowd.

Monroe called it “a freak accident” that unfolded in slow motion, for him. It occurred in the third set of their third-round match against Spaniards Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. He left the court and was evaluated and returned to finish the match. The Spaniards won, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3.

“Maybe still feel a little bit dizzy and my head hurts a little bit,” Monroe said later in the afternoon. “It was a pretty far fall. I didn’t realize how far it was. Didn’t realize the wall was that close and hit my head pretty hard and was pretty dizzy as soon as I hit it and I couldn’t get out of that position.”

Concussion protocol was followed before Monroe was allowed to return. He said he did not have a concussion.

“We had to do a couple of balance tests and [say] the months backwards and the days backwards,” he said. “Then I was cleared to finish.”

He said he never lost consciousness and could hear Young talking.

“He was like, ‘Man, man just take your time. Don’t rush. We’ve got plenty of time,’” Monroe said. “I definitely couldn’t get up anyway.”

Monroe added later, “I hope that’s not on ‘Sports Center’…wish we would have won the match. That would have made it better.”

Wrong tone

Who hasn’t wanted to send a text message or make a phone call on a changeover?

Except it is against the rules for pro players on the tour. Marcos Baghdatis was in the process of losing in straight sets to Gael Monfils and decided to check out his phone on a changeover in the second set. Thus, he received a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Baghdatis later told reporters that he wanted to send his wife a message.

Of course, this wasn’t nearly as fascinating as one of the legendary changeover moments in tennis. In 1993, Jim Courier received a ton of grief for reading a book on a changeover at a tournament in Germany.

At least he had good taste: The author was Armistead Maupin.

Wrapping it up

Doubles specialist Eric Butorac played his final match as a professional, losing in the second round of mixed doubles at the Open. Yaroslava Shvedova and Bruno Soares beat Butorac and Timea Babos, 6-3, 7-5. Butorac, 35, has two young children and will be taking a job with the U.S. Tennis Assn.

He was raised in Rochester, Minn., and played Division III tennis at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota. Through the years, youngsters from smaller colleges have used him as a role model.

“For the last 15 years, kids not only from my school, but so many different schools are coming up and say: ‘Hey our coach talks about you. He uses you in our speech every fall to motivate us,’” Butorac said. “It’s been a really cool flag-bearing situation that I didn’t expect. To be the face for a bunch of kids that normally don’t get talked about, as a motivator, to go chase your dreams.”

As recently as 2014, Butorac reached the Australian Open final with Raven Klaasen.

“That was a pretty special week for me because I had never gone that deep in a Slam,” Butorac said.