Wimbledon told to scrap ‘disgraceful’ rule: ‘You should never do that’

Wimbledon has been urged to scrap a rule that was branded ‘disgraceful’ by world number four Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Canadian star Auger-Aliassime clashed with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina towards the end of their last-16 match at the All England Club.

Auger-Aliassime was leading by two sets to one and serving for the match when his Spanish opponent called for a medical timeout.

Davidovich Fokina received medical attention to his ankle but did not seem hampered by the issue when play resumed, immediately breaking Auger-Aliassime to force a decisive fifth set.

Auger-Aliassime appeared briefly rattled by the timeout but regained his composure to dominate the fifth set and advance to the quarter-finals.

Canada’s number one did not hide his frustration at the incident in his post-match press conference, accusing Davidovich Fokina of exploiting a ‘disgrace of a rule’.

‘The interactions between him and I, I don’t want to get into that,’ an animated Auger-Aliassime said.

‘If he wants to come in here and talk about it, he can. But he knows my opinion. That’s one of these things that I have differences with people in my life on tour. They know what I think. That’s the most important.

‘Now what I can say, though, is that I think the [medical timeout] rule has to change. I think that, obviously, as long as the rule is like that, a player will use it to their advantage.

‘I think that it’s very simple. If you’re hurt bad, or whatever you’re hurt, while the game’s going on of your opponent, in the middle of the game, the opponent is serving, the shot clock is on, basically when you’re hurt bad, you’re forfeiting every point until you can call the physio.

‘If the physio helps you recover, you play your service game. If you’re hurt bad, then you retire, obviously.

‘But to stop in the middle of an opponent’s service game, and to be able to call the physio, I think that’s a disgrace of a rule.

‘I don’t see any other sport where you can do that. I mark my words. It’s a disgrace of a rule. So that’s it.’

Former American tennis star Steve Johnson has also criticised the rule which allows players to receive medical timeouts before or during their opponent’s service game.

‘Felix has been playing great and he hadn’t been broken in this tournament until that little kerfuffle late in the fourth set,’ Johnson said on the Nothing Major podcast.

‘He was serving for the match, trying to close it out, and Fokina hurts his ankle or foot and limps off to get some treatment.

‘He ices Felix pretty good and ultimately gets the break and wins the tie-breaker before Felix did what he needed to do.

‘He was a little upset about the timeout, he was talking to his box but he was able to calm down after losing the fourth set. Obviously he wanted to win it in four but sometimes that’s good for the confidence to close it out in the fifth.

‘He’s always well-spoken and mild-mannered and not many guys would say a bad word about him. He’s usually very measured in the press but he said it was a disgrace, it’s a disgrace of a rule.

‘I disagree with the rule as well, you should never take an injury timeout while your opponent is serving or while they are serving. You should always take it before your own serve.

‘Fokina didn’t break any rules and Felix wasn’t targeting him but it didn’t look good because he comes out running and was fine and gets the break.

‘I’m not going to pick sides here but I agree the rule should be changed and I completely understand why Felix is annoyed.’

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