Things fell apart when Jannik Sinner, one game away from winning the third round of the French Open. Leading 6-3, 6-2, 5-1 against Juan Manuel Cerundolo on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Thursday, resorted to a medical timeout after showing repeated signs of discomfort. However, this was enough to tip off critics who viewed this as special treatment.

Watching from the broadcast desk, TNT Sports analyst and two-time French Open champion Jim Courier didn’t hold back. “The chair umpire has not activated the serve clock,” Courier said. “This is unquestionably not an injury. This is unfair for Cerundolo. The clock should be counting. He should be getting penalized for this. This is not an injury. He is reacting to different areas of his body. It’s clearly cramping. This is absolute baloney. We love the top players; they drive the sport, but you’ve got to apply the rules fairly. The rules are being bent for the top players.”

Sinner was allowed to leave the court for a medical assessment for around 10 minutes, an off-court timeout; the rules do not allow for cramping. Cramping isn’t an injury; it’s a fitness issue, and players aren’t entitled to a medical timeout. There was no start to the serve clock from the umpire, no time violation, and Sinner was given every benefit of the doubt in what, from the outside, looked unmistakably like a cramp.

This added to the lineup of players who have been facing the effects of the searing Paris heat in the form of cramping, dizziness and vision issues. However, they’ve tried to adapt using ice bags and portable fans, but those can only go so far. In Jakub Mensik’s second-round match, the 20-year-old was issued a time violation due to taking prolonged breaks between rallies, hence Wertheim questioning a differing treatment for Sinner was natural.

Although, the timeout did not save Sinner. He came back on court and dropped the third set and then the fourth 6-1 before losing the match in five sets, 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1. His 30-match winning streak is over, as is his French Open campaign. But this discussion about how the timeout was handled lingers past the result, and adds to the history of decision favoring the World No.1.

Jannik Sinner Being on the Receiving End of Controversial Decisions Again

The Jim Courier accusation on Jannik Sinner didn’t come out of nowhere. That came amid increasing frustration, much of it unspoken, over whether the sport’s biggest star plays by a different set of rules than everyone else.

It all started when Sinner tested positive twice for the banned anabolic steroid clostebol in March 2024. The ITIA’s independent tribunal found him to be completely innocent and without any fault or negligence. WADA was not convinced and took the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, demanding a ban of one or two years.

The two sides reached a settlement in February 2025, with Sinner accepting a three-month ban from February 9 to May 4, 2025. The ban conveniently fell in between the Australian Open and the French Open, which meant that the Italian could resume play well ahead of the Clay major. Tim Henman called the timing “too convenient” and said it left a “sour taste” in the sport.

Also, reports surfaced in Paris this week that the schedule in which Roland Garros set Sinner’s second-round match caused suspicion among tennis fans, as his draw seemed to be organized around conditions most favorable to the top seed.

Then came the 2026 Italian Open, where Sinner displayed similar physical distress as against Cerundolo and got a time-out in his match against Daniil Medvedev. Medvedev protested on the court, but his protests were ignored, and Sinner was able to recover and win the match.

In Paris, Courier named the chair umpire and the French Tennis Federation specifically, demanding an explanation. The biggest upset of the tournament came from world No. 58 Cerundolo as he progressed to the third round. Courier’s question around whether the biggest names in the game are immune to consequences that other players are not is not one that a scoreline will settle.