Medvedev Proposes ATP Rule Change After Sinner Medical Timeout Controversy at Italian Open

Daniil Medvedev has urged the ATP to amend its medical timeout regulations after losing a tense three-set semi-final to Jannik Sinner at the Italian Open, with the Russian voicing his frustration over a physio visit the Italian took during the deciding set.

With Sinner leading 3-2 in the third set, Medvedev challenged the chair umpire directly, asking: “When we call the physio for cramps, we don’t get fined?” — a remark that signalled his dissatisfaction with the reasoning behind his opponent’s break from play.

Rather than simply criticising Sinner, however, Medvedev used his post-match press conference to put forward a practical solution. “I actually have a solution: allow physical, allow medical treatment for helps. Sorry. Allow medical, meaning physio three minutes, when you have cramps,” he told reporters. “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.”

Under current ATP Tour regulations, players are not entitled to a medical timeout specifically for cramping, as it is classified as a physical condition rather than an injury. The existing rules permit physio treatment for legitimate injuries, but cramping occupies a grey area that has repeatedly generated on-court disputes.

Sinner has dealt with cramping issues on several occasions in recent months. At the 2025 Australian Open in Melbourne, he pushed through physical difficulties to defeat Eliot Spizzirri, before being forced to retire from his match against Tallon Griekspoor at the 2025 Shanghai Masters due to the same problem. Despite the disruption in Rome, Sinner recovered to defeat Medvedev and advance to the final.

This is not the first time the cramping controversy has flared up at a major event this season. At the 2025 Australian Open semi-finals, Carlos Alcaraz called a medical timeout during his victory over Alexander Zverev, with the German firmly of the view that the stoppage was cramp-related. Zverev did not hold back in his assessment. “He was cramping, so normally you can’t take a medical timeout for cramping,” Zverev said. “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.”

Alcaraz, like Sinner in Rome, went on to win the decisive set after the timeout and ultimately claimed the Australian Open title — a parallel that has not gone unnoticed within the sport.

With the issue now having surfaced prominently at two Grand Slam-level or equivalent events within the same season, and with leading players on both sides of the debate speaking openly about it, pressure on the ATP to clarify or revise its medical timeout policy is likely to intensify heading into the grass-court season and Wimbledon.