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Jannik Sinner under fire for 'gamesmanship' during US Open semifinal victory; fans call out his 'ploy'
Jannik Sinner had found himself at 1-1 with Felix Auger-Aliassime when he took a medical timeout, but some fans wonder if it was legitimate.
Jannik Sinner has reached his fourth grand slam final of the year, his semifinal win over Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada seeing the world number one through to the title match against his great rival Carlos Alcaraz. Sinner’s quality and consistency over the last two years on the ATP tour has seen him rise and rise – but that hasn’t meant he has been free of controversy, as he once again dipped his toes into that well during his semifinal win over Auger-Aliassime.
Sinner had crushed the first set 6-1, but found things levelled when Auger-Aliassime stepped up his level and won the second set 6-3. Sinner did look slightly uncomfortable and not his usual extremely fluid self, and this was again confirmed as he opted for an extended medical timeout before the start of the third set. While this is an option presented to players between sets, it is often a move seen as an attempt to earn a few extra minutes to halt the opponent’s momentum and regain your own, especially if the problem isn’t as serious as to require the timeout.
Only Sinner would know whether he truly needed the break or if it was a way of stopping his opponent’s momentum, but the Italian has been struggling physically a touch in recent weeks, including having to withdraw partway through the final in Cincinnati only three weeks ago.
After the match, he did confirm about his physical struggles: “I just felt a small twitching after a serve when I served there in the second set on 4-3. After the treatment, was feeling much, much better.”
‘Nothing to worry about…’
Sinner also stated that the timeout helped, but he wished to go off-court since the problem area was on his upper leg or lower abdomen: injuries elsewhere on the body are treated on-court typically. “At some point I didn't feel anything anymore. I was serving back to normal pace, so it was all good. Nothing to worry about, but I preferred to go off court because it's on a different spot. So it's all good.”
That hasn’t stopped some tennis fans from accusing Sinner of a touch of gamesmanship and using that break to wrestle back momentum, and this isn’t the first time such an accusation has been levelled against him: a similar break was used by the Italian in his win over Holger Rune at the Australian Open this year. It is also a criticism that has been pointed towards players like Novak Djokovic in the past.
At the end of the day, Sinner won’t want more medical controversy after his high-profile suspension earlier this year, and he showed that he had more than enough firepower after that timeout for momentum to be irrelevant, as he sprinted through Auger-Aliassime in the next two sets to claim the win, and his sixth slam final.
