Clears false information in the Alcaraz vs. Zverev

The semi-final match of Carlos Alcaraz vs. Alexander Zverev Australian Open on Friday afternoon had everything. Five sets, five hours, three breaks, pressure swings, congestion, medical timeouts, profanity-laden arguments, and arguments.

What once looked like a routine victory for Alcaraz took a turn for the worse when the world No. 1 began to suffer from an apparent sprained leg midway through the third set. After holding serve 5-4, he took a time out for treatment – which is not allowed to crowd.

Here is what the Grand Slam rulebook says:

“A player can receive treatment for muscle tightness only during the time allotted to change ends and/or set a break. Players may not receive time for treatment of muscle tightness. In cases where there is doubt that the player is suffering from a serious disease, a non-serious health condition that includes muscle representation, or an incurable medical condition, the decision of the appropriate sports doctor, sports doctor, tourotherapist, last.

“If the sports physiotherapist believes that the player has heat illness, and if muscle stiffness is one of the symptoms of heat illness, then muscle stiffness may be treated as part of the treatment recommended by the Sports Physiotherapist for the condition of heat illness.”

Then there is the gray area with cramping. What if the player is hopeless if it’s a cramp or a real injury? What if they just say it’s a real injury even though he knows it’s a cramp? There is no way to police that.

“A player who has stopped playing due to illness but has been determined by the sports doctor and/or the tournament doctor to have a muscle strain, will be ordered by the Chair Umpire to play again immediately,” the law continued.

Alcaraz finally explained during the press conference that he was not sure of the exact problem. He also said that it was the physio who decided that he needed time for treatment.

“At first it was a specific muscle, so I didn’t think it was cramps,” said the 22-year-old player. “So I don’t know exactly what it was, because I just went around the front and I started to feel it just in the right adductor, that’s why I just called the physio – because it was at that time. All the legs, the left leg was good. I’m not specific, but decent.

“I didn’t know what was going on, I didn’t know if it would happen [get] bad or not. At that moment I just talked to the physio. I said, ‘okay, I just ran to the front, and I started to feel like a right adductor.’ He decided to take time off for treatment, and he did it…. I just told him what happened at the physio, and he decided to take the medical.”

Understandably, Zverev wasn’t buying it.

“You have cramps,” he shouted in German to the manager. “What else is it supposed to be? This is utter nonsense! That’s unbelievable. It can’t be — you can’t make up your mind! You’re protecting them both (referring to Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner). It’s unbelievable!”

Zverev was within his right to complain. And Alcaraz didn’t break any rules — and he didn’t do anything we’ve seen thousands of times in professional tennis — by taking time off for treatment.

Still, it’s nothing really – except that we can talk about it between now and Sunday’s final between Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic. After all, it did not contribute to the outcome of the game. Remember that Alcaraz is lost the third set immediately after treatment. He also lost for the fourth time! His movements remained somewhere between limited and severely impaired until the fifth – a few hours after the end of the treatment period.

And let’s also clarify the common sense that Alcaraz almost decided to retire after the third game of the fourth set.