Coco Gauff’s former coach, Brad Gilbert, recently shared his take on the medical timeout controversy during Felix Auger-Aliassime’s fourth-round match against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina at the Wimbledon Championships.
The incident occurred in the fourth set of the match on Sunday, with Auger-Aliassime serving for the match at 5-4. At 15-40, with the Spaniard having two break points, Fokina took a medical timeout after slipping while chasing the ball behind the baseline. He rolled his left ankle and immediately called for the physiotherapist, bringing play to a halt.
When the match resumed, Auger-Aliassime double-faulted, lost his service game, and then the fourth-set tiebreak. He recovered in the deciding set to secure a 6-7(7), 7-6(6), 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-1 win to progress to the quarterfinals.
The Canadian expressed his anger over the medical timeout during a tense exchange with Fokina at the net and declined to shake hands. He later called the rule “disgraceful” in his post-match press conference. Following the controversy, Brad Gilbert posted a video on X, criticizing the medical timeout rule, calling it one of his pet peeves in tennis. He said:
“A pet peeve of mine… A rule change has to be made ASAP. No medical timeouts allowed on your opponent’s serve. I don’t care if it’s a serious injury unless you forfeit the game. But these medical timeouts during the game, even if it’s on your serve, I still feel like you should forfeit the game. The umpires are afraid to do anything and we’ve allowed this rule to go on,” Gilbert said.
Felix Auger-Aliassime opened up about his match against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
After his fourth-round victory at the Wimbledon Championships, Felix Auger-Aliassime reflected on his performance during the press conference. He described it as an “important” win and admitted that he was happy with the way he handled things during the match.
“It’s one of those Grand Slam matches that you remember. I’ve played a few over my career, but some I’ve lost and but this one was an important one to win. Obviously, it would have been tough to lose that one. So, I’m very happy with the way I handled things, with the way I competed, and the way I finished the match eventually,” Felix Auger-Aliassime said.
“So, for me, what’s important is to the intentions that you have on the court. So at the end of the fourth I’m up a break, so but every point I reset and I have to have clear intentions and I don’t have regrets so to speak about the end of the fourth. Obviously it’s a shame I wasn’t able to hit some first serves but he went for it.
“He got fortunate then that whole thing happened but in the end. What I was thinking about five-all, tie break is just, okay, try to keep the right intentions, try to play the right shots and if you miss you miss. Obviously there’s a bit of tension involved but I think that mindset helped me to keep going in the in the fifth and play the right way.”
Also read:
Chris Evert Celebrates Martina Navratilova’s Wimbledon Achievements After Novak Djokovic Controversy
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