Daniil Medvedev calls for a ATP rule change immediately after losing to Jannik Sinner
Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner played out a terrific Italian Open semi-final, but there was some controversy during the deciding set.
Medvedev and Sinner shared the last two sets, but the Russian star appeared to be furious with the Italian’s medical time-out in the third set.
“When we call the physio for cramps, we don’t get fined?”, Medvedev asked the umpire while the scoreline was 3-2 in the deciding set, as he was seemingly unhappy with Sinner’s reasoning for taking a break.
Despite his anger at Sinner’s medical time-out during the match, Medvedev suggested the ATP should allow breaks for cramping players to stop the controversy.
Speaking during his Italian Open press conference, Medvedev said: “I actually have a solution: allow physical, allow medical treatment for helps. Sorry. Allow medical, meaning physio three minutes, when you have cramps.
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“Then there’s no problem because then a player could say, I have cramps, I need a physio. For the moment, it’s not allowed. I completely understand.
“Of course, if you start cramping – maybe he was not, I have no idea – what you do is you ask a physio and you say, I have a small pain in the leg. Probably I did it as well in my career. If medical would be allowed for cramps, there would be no problem, so this is a solution.”
Sinner has struggled with cramping several times in recent years, including at the 2025 Shanghai Masters and at this year’s Australian Open.
The Italian was able to fight through his issues against Eliot Spizzirri in Melbourne, but he was forced to withdraw against Tallon Griekspoor in China.
The cramping debate was re-ignited at this year’s Australian Open, too, during the semi-final match between Carlos Alcaraz’s victory against Alexander Zverev.
Alcaraz called a medical time-out during their match, which Zverev thought was for cramping, and he wasn’t best pleased. He complained to the umpire during the match and followed it up in his press conference.
“He was cramping, so normally you can’t take a medical timeout for cramping,” said Zverev, about his complaints to the umpire during the match. “I just said it was bulls***, basically. What can I do? It’s not my decision. I didn’t like it, but it’s not my decision.”
Just like Sinner against Medvedev, Alcaraz was able to bounce back against Zverev and defeat him in the deciding set in Melbourne. The Spaniard would, of course, go on to lift the title at the Australian Open.
Having happened on multiple occasions so far this season, it surely won’t be long before the ATP Tour changes the rule.
