The officials of ATP decided to implement new rules which are supposed to speed up the overall game pace. Some of those changes are mainly suggested to speed up the tennis procrastinators who take time between the serves and need long warm-ups before the match.
25 Seconds for the Serve
One of the main rules now is that players must serve in the 25 seconds after the previous exchange. This means that whenever someone wins the exchange, the player who serves must immediately prepare and serve as soon as possible.
The reason this was introduced is that there are players such as Rafael Nadal who are famous for being slow when it comes to preparing for the next service.
Rafa’s Objection Against the Rule
It comes as no surprise that Rafa was the first one to raise his voice against this rule. He stated that great tennis matches are not those that are sped up. He also presented evidence for his claims, referring to a match between him and Novak Djokovic that took place in 2012 in the Australian Open final. This was considered one of the best matches in the history of tennis, even though it lasted as long as six hours.
The Seven-Minute-Long Warmup
Another rule that should speed up the game pace is the warmup which should last as long as 7 minutes. The players have exactly one minute to go out to the court and greet each other. After that, they need to finish the warmup process in 7 minutes. The penalty for this breach is $20,000 USD.
The Big Changes
However, ATP has announced that they are testing some bigger changes which may potentially be introduced to tennis. Some of those changes include sets with four games, exclusion of advantage scoring and even introducing in-match coaching which would be conducted by head-seats.
Furthermore, the boys and girls which give towels will probably be excluded – their only job will be to collect the balls. As for the towels – there will be racks at the court where the players will be able to take the towels themselves.
These are some pretty big changes and such radical changes will be tested first to see how everything is going to work out, if it actually does.
Conclusion
Although they seem a bit radical, the ATP officials claim that they may actually make tennis more interesting as many people gave up watching tennis claiming it has become too slow-paced and boring. Will these changes make it more interesting or will they be the demise of the “white” sport?
