Carlos Alcaraz’s 2026 Australian Open semifinal victory against Alexander Zverev saw a medical timeout controversy in the third set. The timeout left Zverev fuming at the decision, and he ended up dropping an X-rated rant at the match supervisor Andreas Egli. Players are not allowed to take a medical timeout for muscle cramping.
After the match, Alcaraz defended himself, stating that he didn’t know if he was cramping or had suffered an injury when the timeout was called.
“In the beginning when it was on a specific muscle, I didn’t think it was cramp at all,” he said.
“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.
“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.
“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.
“Then I just took I think the three [remedies] on the changeover, and that’s it. I just told what happened, and he decided to take the medical timeout,” he added.
It was an intense encounter as Alcaraz outlasted Zverev 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (3/7), 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, and the match lasted for five hours and 27 minutes.
Alcaraz will next face Novak Djokovic in the final, who defeated Jannik Sinner in the semifinals.
