During the intense moment in the Australian Open semifinal, Alexander Zverev alleged that Carlos Alcaraz lied in order to get a medical timeout in the third set.
Alcaraz began struggling physically around 4-4 in the third set, moving gingerly. He requested a timeout and the officials granted him after consulting with the tournament physiotherapist, who gave treatment to the Spaniard.
Zverev was not happy about the same, as he believed the Spaniard was merely cramping and shouldn’t have been given a timeout in the first place. Under Grand Slam rules, players are not normally permitted a medical timeout for simple muscle cramping. Alcaraz ultimately won the epic semifinal 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-7(4), 7-5 and advanced to the Australian Open final.
On Friday, former ATP star Andy Roddick broke down the situation and shared his verdict on whether Alcaraz was right to receive that treatment. On his “Served” podcast, Roddick put himself in the physio’s position, and said he had no choice but to believe Alcaraz, even though he might be lying.
“This person works for everyone equally in the entire tournament, right?” Roddick said. “That physio comes out. Carlos goes, ‘My groin hurts.’ What are you going to say, Carlos? ‘You’re lying to me. I’m not going to treat you.’ You cannot make a judgment call that calls Carlos. You could suspect it, but if you don’t know for sure, you cannot make that judgment. Impossible.”
Roddick further added that both players were right to react in the way they did. He said if he were in the place of Alcaraz, he would have done the same and believed Zverev was also right to get frustrated.
“No one was wrong,” Roddick added. “No. I would have done exactly what Carlos did. So judge me too, and every other player would have done it. If they say they wouldn’t have, they either haven’t been in that situation or they’re f**king lying to you. Those are the two options. Yeah. And if I’m Zverev, I’m pissed too.”
Carlos Alcaraz Defends Controversial Timeout Against Alexander Zverev in Australian Open SF
After the epic win, which saw Alexander Zverev come back from down two sets, Carlos Alcaraz revealed the chain of events that led to the timeout in the first place. He revealed that it was the physio who upon his judgement said the timeout was needed for his adductor pain.
“In the beginning when it was on a specific just one muscle, I didn’t think it was cramp at all,” he said. “I didn’t know exactly what it was because I just go around to a forehand and then I started to feel it just in the right adductor, so that’s why I just called the physio because in that moment, the left leg was good. In that moment I just talk to the physio. I said, okay, I just went to run to the forehand side, and I started to feel like the right adductor. He decided to take the medical timeout, and he did it.”
At one point, Zverev was serving for the match but Alcaraz broke him and went on to win the match. However, the controversial timeout remains a talking point among tennis circles.
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