Djokovic Accused Of Exploiting Medical Timeout Rules By Former Player

| by Jordan Reynolds

Former ATP player, John Alexander, does not like the way Novak Djokovic has used medical timeouts during his career.

Djokovic suffered a surprising loss at the United Cup to Australian No. 1 Alex de Minaur, with Team Serbia going on to lose the overall tie to the Australians as well.

However, the world No. 1 was hampered by a wrist injury throughout the contest and received medical treatment, even though Djokovic did not want to use excuses when he addressed the issue after the match.

It seems clear that the injury was a real one and that Djokovic was not pretending. He also had the problem in his previous singles battle at the event against Czech Republic's Jiri Lehecka and took a medical timeout in that match.

However, former player John Alexander does not believe these are isolated issues. As per ABC, he stated that medical timeouts are a rule that Djokovic has used to his advantage over the course of his career.

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"The injury timeouts- if there is a question mark over his greatness in his entire career, it's the way he has, in many people's minds, strategically used medical timeouts."

This is a big claim by Alexander. To not just question whether Djokovic has used the rule strategically, but to say it could affect his overall greatness. It is a comment that will certainly draw very strong feelings among the Serbian's many supporters.

Alexander feels it is such an issue that the rules around medical timeouts may need to be looked at as a result.

"I think when players are so routinely taking advantage of these rules and so obviously using them strategically to have an advantage tactically over their opponent, these rules need to be looked at a little bit more." 

Complaints about the use of medical timeouts and bathroom breaks have been real issues. Whether Djokovic is someone who does exploit that rule will certainly split tennis fans.

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