Former Australian tennis player John Alexander says medical timeouts should be changed because of Novak Djokovic

Former Australian tennis player John Alexander says the rules governing how medical timeouts are used in tennis need to be changed after Novak Djokovic underwent treatment on his wrist after losing the second set of his United Cup match against Jiri Lehecka.

The world number one won the match 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-1 and helped his country, Serbia, qualify for the quarter-finals of the tournament.

“I think when players are taking advantage of these rules so regularly and using them so obviously and strategically to gain a tactical advantage over their opponent, those rules need to be looked at a little bit more,” Alexander told the ABC Tennis podcast.

Alexander believes Djokovic’s use of medical timeouts throughout his career has cast a shadow over his achievements.

“The injury timeouts – if there’s a question mark over his greatness throughout his career, it’s the way he’s, in a lot of people’s minds, used injury timeouts strategically,” the former world number eight said.

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“After losing the second set, take an injury timeout to massage his wrist for about five minutes, breaking the opponent’s concentration, perhaps putting thoughts into his opponent’s head like, ‘Oh my, maybe he’s going to forfeit, I’m done for the night.'”

“Then he gets back up, wins the next five games, wins that third set 6-1.

“I have to say that at this point I agree with many of my friends who say that if they don’t see blood, they don’t believe there is an injury.”

Alexander added that Djokovic could be happy to be out with an injury ahead of the first major tournament of the year.

“He’s going into the Australian Open like he did last year, under the cloud of injury, and that’s maybe what he needs psychologically to do his best.”

Djokovic will be aiming to win his 11th Australian Open title and 25th Grand Slam title overall.