“For all the conspiracy theory people, that’s not what happened”: Querrey, Johnson, and Sock weigh in on Sinner’s roof break

The match of Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open third round was marked by a controversial moment during the third set – something that was recalled by the hosts of the Nothing Major podcast – Sam Querrey, Jack Sock, John Isner, and Steve Johnson. The former American tennis players had cross opinions about the supposed favors towards Sinner.

The 4-time Grand Slam champion was on the brink while facing Eliot Spizzirri. Limbs cramping, muscles seizing, he’d just lost a service game and trailed 1-3 in the third set – while the first two sets had been split: 6-4 the first for Spizzirri and 6-3 the second for Sinner. The 2-time defending Australian Open champion, expected to coast through the early rounds, was instead fighting for survival.

Then, the extreme heat policy intervened. Sinner appeared with evident physical problems that prevented him from serving normally, when the chair umpire chose to suspend play for a few minutes to close the roof – the perfect moment for Sinner to take a pause and manage to physically recover – just when it was Spizzirri’s service turn, who could increase his advantage to 4-1 against an immobile Sinner, who still had to wait until the change of ends if he wanted a medical time-out.

“So, as everyone knows, we were watching this match, Spizzirri playing unbelievable. The heat is, in effect, like 100 degrees,” Querrey contextualized regarding the moment when play was stopped. “At the Australian Open, they have a heat index. It's this little ticker that goes here, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. When it gets to 3, precautions are in place. When it gets to 4, the heat rule is in place, and the heat rule is for the women, after two sets, you get a 10-minute break. For the men, after three sets, you get a 10-minute break. When that gets to 5, the roofs close. End of story.”

The former world No. 11 defended the chair umpire’s decision and said it was within the usual parameters of the tournament. “So, for all the conspiracy theory people out there that think like, ‘oh, Sinner was in trouble, they closed the roof because of Sinner.’ That's not what happened.”

“Obviously, brutal break for Spizzirri. He's up a set and a break. Sinner is struggling like you've never seen before. And yes, the heat index thing hit a 5, and so they closed the roof. Very unfortunate for Spizzirri. Ultimately, that roof closed. It gets nicer inside. Sinner comes back and wins.”

Who agreed with Querrey was former world No. 21 Steve Johnson, who agreed that: “Yeah, I think it's insane. Look, I get where the rule is in place. Like, it's an arbitrary number that they decided at some point prior to this, so I get that they're just following rules,” Johnson explained. “I just don't like that they do it in the middle of a set.”

“They're going to follow the rules that are in place, but I don't think they should do it in between sets ever. I don't think they should do anything in between sets, or sorry, in the middle of sets until the set is over. Like, they should finish that set. You know, obviously, if it's rain or something, like, you stop it and you close the roof.”

After the match, Sinner himself admitted he “got lucky” with the heat break, a candid recognition that the pause had been more than a convenience—it had been lifesaving. His coach Darren Cahill had encouraged him to endure, trusting that a longer break could change the match. It did: the 10-minute indoor pause allowed Sinner’s body to reset, recover, and remember why he’s World No. 2.

Spizzirri, the 24-year-old American debuting in the main draw, had pressed the defending champion like few had before, converting six of sixteen break points. Yet once the roof closed, the opportunity for a shocking upset evaporated. Sinner ended up closing the win without appeals by 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 and advanced to the fourth round, completing 17 consecutive wins at Melbourne Park.

Jack Sock praised Sinner’s ability to overcome the physical problems he had toward the middle of the match, when everything seemed to complicate for the Italian. “Coming from someone who's cramped a fair bit in their career, it's definitely not easy to do. It plays on your mind,” he said. “I feel like that whole time, but he somehow stays like, seems like he stays super relaxed. And yeah, kind of just like hobbles around.”

“It's crazy that he could manage the stress level of feeling like that while playing and still play that long,” added the former world No. 8. “Cause I feel like anytime like the onset of cramps would come on for me personally, it was almost just like rapid, just matter of time within 10, 15 minutes, I was probably done for. And he's still running side to side, sliding into balls, serving well, able to play at a very high level. So yeah, it was really interesting to watch.”

Sinner returns. To the 4th round in Melbourne, where he will face his compatriot Luciano Darderi, current world No. 25, who had surprised Karne Khachanov. Darderi himself later gave an interview amid cramps after the great physical effort in the win against Khachanov. They have no previous matches, although they did work side by side during the last off-season, when Sinner invited Darderi to train with him in Dubai.