Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner's extended off-court medical timeouts at Australian Open criticized by tournament's ex-CEO

Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner's lengthy off-court medical timeouts at the 2025 Australian Open were recently criticized by Paul McNamee, the hardcourt Major's former CEO. According to McNamee, such extended breaks disrupted the rhythm of the Serb and Italian's respective opponents. He also urged the tournament to be strict at handling such situations.

Speaking to The Age, Paul McNamee said:

"I’m not a big fan of it (off-court medical timeouts), I’ve got to say. Unless there’s a modesty issue, I think it should happen on court. And you’ve got three minutes, and that’s it. I don’t think it’s fair to the opponent to stop a match for 10 minutes, even five minutes."

"It’s meant to be three minutes and should be policed strictly. I can’t believe people are pointing to Novak when Jannik did that the day before. I mean that 11 and a half minutes - give me a break," McNamee added.

The "11 and a half minutes" cited by the 70-year-old came during World No. 1 and defending Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner's fourth-round win against Holger Rune. A day later, Novak Djokovic took an off-court medical timeout towards the end of the first set during his quarterfinal clash against Carlos Alcaraz. While the Serb lost the first set, he ultimately emerged victorious, winning 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 .

Both players, upon returning to the court during their respective matches, surprisingly appeared completely rejuvenated and revitalized, which caught their opponents off-guard. Rune and Alcaraz both spoke up about the incidents during their respective post-match press conferences.

"A bit brutal", "He was struggling" - Holger Rune and Carlos Alcaraz's honest admissions on Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic's MTOs at Australian Open

Carlos Alcaraz (left) and Holger Rune (right) (Source: Getty)

Following his fourth-round loss to Jannik Sinner, Holger Rune opened up on the Italian's extended medical timeout. While the Dane opined that it was right for Sinner to be checked thoroughly, he suggested that it came at a cost to his chances of maintaining his momentum in the match.

"It’s fair that he got checked, I think it took longer than I expected. It was around 10 minutes maybe even more so that was a bit brutal in the middle of the set," Rune said.

The following day, Carlos Alcaraz weighed in with his thoughts on Novak Djokovic's timeout, saying:

"I think everybody saw in the second set he's struggling a little bit to moving. I don't know if it was more running to the forehand or running to backhand, but obviously he was struggling. Then the third and fourth set, I didn't see anything bad from him. So I'm not saying, like, he made a show. I just saying that, I don't know."

Sinner remains in contention for the 2025 Australian Open title, with the Italian set to face Ben Shelton in the semis. Djokovic though, retired mid-match during his semifinal showdown with Alexander Zverev.