Tennis: Hewitt bemoans Martin's timely groin strain

Lleyton Hewitt did not take his shock first-round defeat in good heart at the Australian Open.

His four set defeat to world number 39 Alberto Martin ended controversially, when the Spaniard took a three-minute time-out at a crucial point in the fourth set tie-break.

While Martin enjoyed a massage to both groins, Hewitt trailed by 4-5 and knew if he lost the next two points he was out of his home Grand Slam.

That was exactly what happened, Martin was booed off court, and Hewitt afterwards described the time-out as "a shocker".

He added: "You can read into it what you like. You never know if I would have got out of the situation, but it would have made it a lot easier if we had played fair.

"I don't know how many referees were on the side of the court who saw him play the tie-break fine and then come up with that.

"I had asked for the trainer before, but I told the umpire I would wait for the change of ends just because it's not the right thing to do at 30-30.

"I won't make an official complaint. Enough people have seen it and if nobody does anything there's not much point me going and arguing."

Hewitt blamed his health - he has only just recovered from chickenpox - for finding himself in such a hole.

"I'm not Superman. I was struggling out there and at the end of the first set I started to feel tired. I tried to hit a lot of winners, but it's a lot slower out there and the balls are heavier this year. God knows why.

"It was a dogfight for me, but I'm not as disappointed as in other matches because I knew I wasn't 100 per cent. I did the best I could.

"I hadn't played a serious match for a week-and-a-half or two weeks and if this had been a regular tour event I wouldn't have been playing."