Coco Gauff’s Ex-Coach Makes Bold Rule Change Call After Novak Djokovic’s Cincinnati Match

It is safe to say that Novak Djokovic couldn’t handle the heat at the Cincinnati Open. He suffered a shocking 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 defeat to Thiago Agustin Tirante in the second round. While the result was already very disappointing, what was even more concerning was how Djokovic struggled physically during the match. He appeared to have puked during the second set and had to take a break again after an epic 18-minute hold in the third game of the second set. Seeing this, Coco Gauff’s former coach, Brad Gilbert, felt that the rules around timeouts and breaks should change.

“I wish I could change the injury time out rules and comfort breaks, 1st thing I get rid of no evaluation time especially on preexisting injury, go back to 3 min MTO that’s it and has to be on your serv or you forfeit the, bathroom breaks should be 3 mins,” he wrote on X.

The current rule states that a medical timeout should last strictly for three minutes. Only one timeout is allowed per distinct medical condition. A player isn’t allowed to take a medical timeout for muscle cramps, and it can only be taken during changeovers or set breaks.

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As for bathroom breaks, players can only take one in a best-of-three set match unless given permission by the chair umpire. Grand Slams may permit two bathroom breaks per match, as it’s played in a best-of-five-set format. Players can only take up to three minutes for a bathroom break, and an additional two minutes are given to them if they want to change their attire.

While Djokovic didn’t break any of the rules, he didn’t appear to be in a condition to compete at all. Not to mention that he even dropped to his knees mid-game and took his time to recover.

This isn’t the first time that a controversy around breaks has been caused at the Cincinnati Masters. For context, Rafael Jodar had also taken multiple breaks during the third set of his clash against Denis Shapovalov in the Round of 64, once for a medical timeout and twice for broken shoelaces. After winning the first set and losing the second, the Spaniard took a medical timeout to get treatment on his leg while trailing 1-2 in the decider.

He then took another break as his shoelaces broke at 1-4. Surprisingly, his shoelaces broke again at 3-5, leading to another break. Shapovalov lost his patience and complained to the chair umpire about the situation. But despite the controversy, Jodar managed to rack up a dramatic 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 victory.

These kinds of recurrent breaks can break the momentum of opposing breaks, and Shapovalov is an example of this. He was leading the set by 5-1 at one stage but then lost six games in a row to exit the tournament. It remains to be seen if any rule change will take place regarding the medical timeouts or breaks that a player can take in tour-level competitions.

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