Brad Gilbert believes something needs to change after Jannik Sinner was controversially able to leave the court midgame in his shock Roland Garros defeat.
Sinner was beaten by Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the second round of Roland Garros, despite leading the match by two sets and 5-1.
The world number one began to physically fade in the third set and at 5-4 0-40 in the third set, chair umpire Aurélie Tourte allowed Sinner to leave the court midgame to receive medical intervention.
This decision provoked a strong reaction, including Jim Courier slamming the umpire’s decision for Sinner, and now Coco Gauff’s former coach Gilbert has called for a rule to change as a result of it.
Brad Gilbert claims Jannik Sinner should not have been able to leave the court
Gilbert and former top 10 player Andrea Petkovic reacted to Sinner’s defeat on The Big T Podcast, where they discussed in-depth the decision to allow him to leave the court midgame.
When giving their verdict on the incident, both Gilbert and Petkovic criticised Tourte for getting out of her chair to give Sinner an option to leave the court.
“First of all, the umpire there needs to be impartial,” said Gilbert. “I feel like if anything is going to happen there, he has to forfeit the game.
“I don’t care if it’s Sinner, whoever the player is, and now they can check your vitals, great. They want to check your vitals, there should be a running clock, you should have lost that game!
“What surprised me most Andrea [Petkovic], when you’re struggling physically and we’ve been talking about this, playing in this weather can hit the wall and we have seen Sinner in the clay court season, he had that one match in Madrid where he lost a set, was kind of feeling a little ill, and two in cool conditions in Rome.
“What I’m surprised about is, Pete Sampras is one guy that when he was struggling physically he would manage himself amazingly, I’m surprised he didn’t pull the trigger a few times. Forget about the serve and volley, like serve and just bomb a forehand, so it made him make some goofy decisions.”
Petkovic added, “I want to go back to that moment when the chair umpire went down, I read up on the rules and I just want to clarify on where the grey area was.
“For me, the one no-no that happened was the chair umpire coming down from the chair and basically advising Jannik Sinner on what he should do best and how he should present himself, BG (Brad Gilbert) for those who are listening and not watching just chucked his paper away. That is an absolute no go, she cannot do that, he has to approach the chair and ask her!
“However, I will push a little bit back on the rules and everything that transpired after that, although it is a grey area, technically is within the rules. Because if you are feeling unwell, you are allowed to call a medical professional on the court.
“The medical professional then has to assess on the court what is happening, if he deems the player is having heat illness, he can choose to take him off the court to try and help him.”
How would you solve Jannik Sinner being allowed medical treatment for cramps?
Another incident…
Gilbert then called for a change to the tennis rules regarding this, claiming that players should be docked points or even games if they leave the court.
“Going back to Sinner, Sinner did the right thing and said ‘I will forfeit points’ and when she gave him that choice, you can leave the court and check your vitals, well of course I’m going to take the timeout,” said Gilbert. “But it’s in the middle of the game, that’s something to me, they need to rewrite the rules
“…Loss of fitness is taking away something from your opponent, they’ve earned the right that you’re in this position. They need to rewrite the rules that you can never, I don’t care how bad it is, if you leave the court you forfeit that game.
“That has to be written or a running clock that you lose points, because all of a sudden you give a player a choice, of course if you’re stuck on the court you’re penalised, how long is this going to take?”
Andrea Petkovic suggests alternative for new rule in response to Jannik Sinner incident
Petkovic also came up with a suggestion of her own for a rule change, but it slightly differed to Gilbert’s.
Instead of docking players points for leaving the court, Petkovic suggested that players should be allowed a certain number of timeouts to use per match, which they can use whenever they want regardless of the reason.
“I have a solution for you for all the rules circling around the medical timeout, I think what we should do instead of having medical timeouts, toilet breaks, change of attire breaks, this, that,” said Gilbert.
“I think every player should get a certain amount of timeouts they can use whenever they want for whatever they want and they can do whatever they want with it.
“They can leave the court, they can stay on court, as long as they stay within the time that must be determined and this can take away the discussion of is it a cramp, is it fatigue, is it heat illness? It would all go away, because you can take the time for whatever you want.
“You can use it for a tactical thing, I’m serving for the match and I want to go over to my camp and chat to them for two minutes…Let’s take Jannik Sinner as an example…Just a timeout, and he goes I’m starting to feel it and you can use it at 4-1 for three minutes, nobody is allowed to ask why, what.
“It’s a timeout you can do whatever you want with it and even if you just stand outside and nap for two minutes and 59 seconds and come back, all fair game.”
Where does Jannik Sinner’s defeat to Juan Manuel Cerundolo rank among the most shocking results in tennis history?
Although the current rule helped Sinner in the moment, it was not enough for him to recover in time to keep himself in the tournament.
Sinner will now have a number of weeks away from the match court before returning to defend his Wimbledon title next month.
