Djokovic's defeat in Cincinnati generates controversy due to medical timeouts

The defeat of Novak Djokovic against Thiago Agustín Tirante in his debut at the ATP Cincinnati 2026 last Saturday is causing quite a stir. On one hand, there are those who agree with Greg Rusedski, who has criticized the tournament for not taking care of him and making him play during the day in extreme heat. However, a controversy has also arisen regarding the physical issues that the Serbian revealed he has been dealing with for some time, which Brad Gilbert believes he should not be allowed to request a physio or medical time-out.

The controversy over medical time-outs has been lurking around the circuit for some time, as happened at Wimbledon with Alejandro Davidovich and Felix Auger-Aliassime. In Gilbert's case, former coach of players like Andy Murray or André Agassi, he believes that if Djokovic already arrived with those problems to the match, he should not be able to request a medical time-out because doing so disrupts his opponent's rhythm. Through a post on his 'X' account, he developed this idea, which will surely cause a lot of buzz and generate controversy.

"I wish I could change the rules for medical time-outs and breaks to go to the doctor. The first thing I would remove: There is no evaluation time, especially in the case of a pre-existing injury. I would return to the three-minute medical time-out, and nothing more. And it has to be during your serve or you lose the points. Bathroom breaks should be three minutes," he wrote.

Gilbert, in the same line as Auger-Aliassime

At Wimbledon, Aliassime's opinion was quite similar, stating in the press conference after his match against Davidovich that "if you're very injured, or whatever you get injured, while your opponent's match is on, in the middle of the game, the opponent is serving, the serve clock is running, basically when you're very injured, you lose all points until you can call the physiotherapist." In other words, his opinion is based on the idea that a medical time-out can only be requested when you are about to serve. 

However, this could set a very dangerous precedent, as there are times when tennis players really need treatment because otherwise the situation could escalate. Furthermore, one should not forget that Djokovic requested the medical time-out and just beforehand experienced a game that lasted 17 minutes, which further aggravated the situation. What is clear is that in this case there will always be a diversity of opinions, although in the short term, it does not seem that it will change.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, La derrota de Djokovic en Cincinnati genera polémica por los parones médicos