Carlos Alcaraz has hit back at Alexander Zverev\u2019s criticism of his medical timeout, which he took during their five-hour Australian Open semi-final battle.<\/p>\n
The Spaniard looked in total control of the encounter after claiming the first two sets 6-4, 7-6(5); however, at 4-4 in the third, he appeared to grab his upper leg after an awkward groundstroke movement.<\/p>\n
Alcaraz immediately conveyed the concern to his team before utilising a three-minute medical timeout \u2013 in addition to the usual two minutes for the changeover.<\/p>\n
The physio began to massage the general area, with commentators speculating that the issue might be a freak muscular injury.<\/p>\n
Despite the concern, Zverev \u2013 on the other hand \u2013 was convinced that the issue was cramp-related, an issue for which you are not allowed a medical timeout.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has cramp,\u201d the world No 3 complained to the umpire.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe can\u2019t take a medical, he is cramping. What else should it be?<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is absolute bulls***. This is unbelievable. Cramps? What the f*** is that? You cannot be serious.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou protect the both of them (Jannik Sinner and Alcaraz). It\u2019s unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, despite the issue turning out to be full-body cramps, the Spaniard claims that he was not immediately sure as to the diagnosis, stating that the physio advised him to take a medical timeout.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt something only in one muscle, the adductor of my right leg,\u201d Alcaraz said during his post-match press conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe truth is that I didn\u2019t think it was cramps, that\u2019s why I called the physio and asked for a medical evaluation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn those moments, nothing else bothered me, the rest of my body was fine, good, decent.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, shortly after being treated, I think because of the nerves and stress of not knowing what exactly was wrong with me, I started to feel cramps all over my body.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey granted me medical time because what I conveyed is that when I moved to the right, I had felt discomfort in my adductor. That was the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, it was Alcaraz who prevailed 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-7(4), 7-5 in the longest match of the tournament at five hours and 27 minutes.<\/p>\n
Zverev had the opportunity to serve out the match at 5-4, but was unable to close out his first win over a world No 1 at a Grand Slam.<\/p>\n
The victory also extended Alcaraz\u2019s record in five-set matches to 15 victories and one loss (93.3% win rate).<\/p>\n
His sole loss came to Italian Matteo Berrettini at the 2022 Australian Open.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, when I was younger there were times when I gave up during the match, I didn\u2019t fight as hard as I should,\u201d the world No 1 explained, when asked why he rarely appears to lose hope.<\/p>\n
\u201cLater, I realised how much I hated that feeling, and, thanks to having matured, I will never feel that again. Every second of suffering on the court is worth it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always trusted in my chances, I always thought I could come back, I wasn\u2019t willing to give up. It was clear to me that closing a game like this was going to be difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started to feel better at the end of the fourth set, but at the beginning of the fifth Sascha displayed impressive tennis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first games he made were beastly, but I haven\u2019t looked dead at any time. I knew I had to keep fighting.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot taking advantage of some break points generated some concern for me, but it also made me see that I was close and that, if I kept fighting, I was going to end up breaking.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great to have achieved the win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alexander Zverev asked about Carlos Alcaraz\u2019s \u2018cramping\u2019 medical time out after Australian Open epic<\/a><\/p>\n Carlos Alcaraz explains physical struggles as he battles from the brink in Australian Open thriller<\/a><\/p>\n Despite the mid-match controversy, the pair created further Australian Open history after the match ticked into being the longest semi-final match of the tournament.<\/p>\n The previous record belonged to the famous 2009 clash between Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco, which ended 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(2), 6-7(1), 6-4 in the former\u2019s favour after five hours and 14 minutes.<\/p>\n Nadal went on to beat his great rival Roger Federer in a five-set epic, less than 48 hours after his previous match.<\/p>\n \u201cThis situation reminds me a lot of what Rafa did in 2009, when he had that incredible match with Verdasco and everyone doubted if he could play the final, and he ended up winning in five sets against Federer,\u201d remarked Alcaraz.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not saying I\u2019m going to do the same, but I think in a Grand Slam final you can\u2019t say you\u2019re tired.<\/p>\n \u201cThe adrenaline that is generated will help me if I manage to do things well in these next few hours.<\/p>\n \u201cI know that tomorrow I\u2019m going to wake up stiff.<\/p>\n \u201cNow I\u2019m going to dedicate a few hours to doing the entire recovery process to be as good as possible, it\u2019s going to be hard for me to fall asleep a little after everything I\u2019ve experienced, but I\u2019m going to make an effort and give my best to get to Sunday in the best disposition possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Want more from Tennis365? Add us as\u00a0<\/span>a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n The post Carlos Alcaraz fires back at Alexander Zverev\u2019s \u2018bulls***\u2019 criticism after being accused of being \u2018protected\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Carlos Alcaraz has hit back at Alexander Zverev\u2019s criticism of his medical timeout, which he took during their five-hour Australian Open semi-final battle. The Spaniard looked in total control of the encounter after claiming the first two sets 6-4, 7-6(5); however, at 4-4 in the third, he appeared to grab his upper leg after an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1687\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}