A furious Alexander Zverev raged over the “unbelievable” decision to allow Carlos Alcaraz to take a medical timeout during their epic Australian Open semi-final.
Zverev had fallen two sets behind in Melbourne and looked set to be making his exit from the tournament, only to roar back and force a decider with Alcaraz increasingly struggling physically.
The Spaniard, who prevailed in five sets after five and a half hours (6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 7-5), was allowed a medical timeout late in the third set as he looked to seal the match, having struggled with his movement in the preceding few games. The trainer came on and worked on massaging Alcaraz’s upper legs, before the umpire Marijana Veljovic announced a three-minute medical timeout.
German third seed Zverev, however, was furious with the decision. Under the rules, players are not allowed medical timeouts due to muscle cramping issues.
Zverev voiced his anger in German to supervisor Andreas Egli, muttering: “He has cramp! He can’t take a medical, he is cramping. What else should it be? This is absolute bull****! This is unbelievable.
“You are protecting both of them [Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner], this is unbelievable. Unbelievable. This is not possible. This is not possible. You cannot be serious.”
Following the conclusion of the epic match, Alcaraz admitted he was physically pushed to his limits.
“I was struggling in the middle of the third set,” Alcaraz admitted afterwards. “Physically it was one of the most demanding matches of my career. I’ve been in these kind of situations before and I knew what I had to do. I fought to the last ball, I knew I’d have my chances. Extremely proud of myself, the way I came back in the fifth set.”
Andy Murray’s former coach Miles Maclagan, working as a pundit for TNT Sports, sympathised with Zverev over the issue.
“The rules become very grey,” he said. “You’re not allowed a medical timeout for cramp, that’s a loss of conditioning. But the difference between cramp and an injury becomes very blurred, it is being treated as an injury in the thigh.
“From Zverev’s point of view he is viewing it as cramp and wants to press the pace. You can understand his argument and a lot of people think that if there is a medical timeout then there should be a penalty for it because Zverev’s fitness has been unquestionable and that’s one of his major strengths which has been somewhat negated by his opponent being able to take a timeout.
“He has worked very hard, not just in this match but across the course of his career to be able to sustain a workrate that is difficult for his opponent.
“Whether it’s cramp or not, it’s because of the duress that Zverev was able to put him under. I think we see a lot with injuries that it’s questionable with the physio coming out…this has been all for Alcaraz’s benefit.”
Despite his protests, Zverev won the subsequent tiebreaks in the third and fourth set to force a decider, as he looks to reach his second consecutive final in Melbourne.
Alcaraz, on the other hand, is looking to reach his first Australian Open final as he eyes the one Grand Slam title he has not yet won.
