Carlos Alcaraz’s title win at the Australian Open has come under criticism from one Italian ex-tennis pro, who feels there are a lot of ‘ambiguities’ in the way the World No. 1 made history.
Alcaraz stormed to the win in Melbourne last week in a brutal display of tennis, beating Alexander Zverev in the semifinals and then Novak Djokovic in the final. By doing so, he achieved the Career Grand Slam — the youngest man in the Open Era to complete the set.
His win over Zverev was marred by controversy, however, with the German accusing Alcaraz of getting a medical timeout and treatment for cramps in the middle of the third set. Under the official rules, there is some ambiguity about what constitutes a cramp and how the medical examiner can conclude whether a player is injured or not without first opting to give a timeout.
Ex-World No. 71 Claudio Pistolesi, meanwhile, has called into question the way things were handled in the tournament. Pistolesi, speaking to Fan Page, insisted that had Alcaraz only experienced cramps, it was a ‘violation’ of the rules to give him a timeout.
On the other hand, Pistolesi argued that even if were true that Carlos Alcaraz had cramps, it was a ‘gray area’ to get him a treatment midway through the set.
“If it’s true that cramps don’t warrant a medical timeout, then there was a violation. And that has nothing to do with the roof issue, which is a different story. Many say, ‘They closed the roof for Sinner too when it was needed.’ But that can’t be proven. If, however, it’s true that he had cramps and that they massaged his legs, then we’re entering a gray area. A very gray area. So the semifinal between Zverev and Alcaraz still has some ambiguities to clarify,” Pistolesi said.
Pistolesi went on to criticize Alexander Zverev as well for not closing out the match despite his opponent suffering with physical limitations, stating that Alcaraz should not even have made it to the final in the first place.
“Zverev was serving for the match and, instead of thinking about going 15-0, 30-0 with ease, he started to get nervous. That’s where he lost the match. Otherwise, it would have been over. With a little more clarity, which Zverev has never shown when it really matters at that level, the match was his this time too. Alcaraz shouldn’t have even been in the final,” he said.
What Carlos Alcaraz said about the cramping at Australian Open
Speaking to press at the Australian Open, Carlos Alcaraz clarified what really happened with his cramping, revealing that he initially thought it was an injury and not just cramps.
The World No. 1 further noted that he himself did not have a clear idea of what was happening, and deferred to the judgement of the physio.
“In the beginning when it was on a specific muscle, I didn’t think it was cramp at all. So 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,” Alcaraz said.
“It was just that moment. The rest of the legs, the left leg was good, not good, but decent. After that with all the stress, I didn’t know what’s going on, didn’t know if it’s going to be worse or not,” he added.
Alcaraz put the onus clearly on the on-site physio for the timeout situation, stating:
“I talked 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.”
Alcaraz is currently at home in Murcia, recovering after a spectacular two weeks at the Australian Open.
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