MARCOS BAGHDATIS RECEIVED a bizarre code violation for using his mobile phone during a changeover in his straight-sets fourth-round loss to Gael Monfils at the US Open on Sunday.

Trailing 6-3, 5-2, Baghdatis reacted testily when he was warned, asking the chair umpire “What if I want to check the time?”

After the 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 defeat he said he was composing a message to his wife, former WTA top-20 player Karolina Sprem.

“There are rules,” he said. “I guess I broke the rule and I got a warning for it, but I was just writing a message to my wife.”

It wasn’t something he’d done before, but Baghdatis said he didn’t realise it would cause such a stir.

“I never wrote a message to anybody during a match before, but I thought, ‘why not?’” he said.

Perhaps Baghdatis was just looking for something to take his mind off the contest, in which his 36% success rate in putting his first serve in play doomed his chances against the 10th-seeded Monfils.

“I think I had the worst day of my life on my serve,” said the 31-year-old, who made a memorable run to the Australian Open final in 2006 but hadn’t reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam since Melbourne in 2009.

“What can I say more,” he said. “Against Gael, if you don’t get some free points and have to rally — I tried to rally but he was getting so many free points on his serve, I had so much pressure on my serve. Honestly it was very tough out there.”