New Rule To Spice Up Tennis

Things are a bit boring at the moment so a new rule has been introduced to spice things up. The 25 second rule between points is to be more rigidly enforced. No ifs and buts if the server goes over 25 seconds they have to take a second serve. If the receiver is not ready no matter how quickly the server serves they receive a point penalty. (Ha ha! I can imagine some fun as servers run more between points than during them in order to win points)

At Doha we have been treated to the new Umpire lecture at the beginning of every match were players are told in no uncertain terms exactly were they stand. Take 26 seconds whatever the reason and they will be punished. To spice it up even more they will not be told exactly when the 26 seconds start and unless they carry a stop watch or have a very good body clock they will find it difficult to keep track of the time. (Ha ha! They could always use the trusty 1 elephant, 2 elephant counting method. I will be watching their lips)

Because tennis has been so boring the commentators have been extremely excited about this new rule and they can barely contain themselves with their excited chat about how this rule will change the game and how interesting it will be to watch players reactions to getting punished at crucial times in the match. (Much more fun than seeing how they respond in crucial times with backhands and forehands...). It has also given the commentators yet another opportunity to talk about everyone's favorite player who is sadly missing at the moment. Has anyone told him about the new rule? What will be his reaction? What fun it will be when he gets punished? Ha ha!

What is really needed though to introduce a little interest for the spectators and get them involved is for a huge clock to be placed in a prominent part of the court. They could then count down the seconds until a load buzzer indicates that a player will be punished. Maybe every time this happens they could respond with a Mexican wave and big hand painted signs saying "LOSER"? It would be great fun for everyone and would ensure that the crowd stays awake.

Let's see if they do enforce it more rigidly then

You serious? Has this really happened?

Allow for the usage of ultra fast 1990's era faster balls, but limit this usage to say 3 per set for each player's service.

Its a good move by the ATP. Frankly, not being ready to serve within 25 seconds is inexcusable. There is no need to have to count anything. Just walk to the line and serve.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2012/09/Feature/ATP-Board-Approves-Change-In-Time-Violation-Penalty.aspx

It's not (necessarily) a more rigid enforcement, but they have made the rule a fault penalty rather than a point penalty.

bogbrush wrote:You serious? Has this really happened?

Yes the new rules are in place. The first time I saw the new rules being explained prior to the warm up the umpire said that if a player took 26 seconds whatever the reason then he would be punished. I believe Lopez was the first player to be punished. And yes the commentators could barely contain their excitement as I mentioned. This explains the new rule in a little more detail.

http://www.tennisalternative.com/tennisspinster-q-a-about-the-infamous-25-seconds-rule-rn1931.html

Maybe this is why Nadal is taking further time out to adjust his body clock?

Mind you though the Djokovic DF rate will go through the roof

This new rule has some unforeseen consequences for the ball kids. I'm watching Monfils in Doha at the moment who is making a poor little ball kid scamper about really quickly so that he gets a towel in time. It is hot and sweaty in Doha.

Now Monfils has been punished...

He has spent a good few minutes arguing with the Umpire... Before serving again

The commentator is really enjoying it. Saying Monfils does sweat a lot but that's his own fault and laughing. Also saying some might suffer more than others...

Now Monfils is very, very upset and arguing again at the change of ends. He has just dropped his serve.

I wonder how much the crowd are enjoying this?

Inhumane rule.

Monfils has dropped his serve again...

He has now said to the umpire that he is going to take the towel every time he serves and the umpire can punish him as much as he wants...

Alas, not watching, but the words 'toys' and 'pram' come to mind. Will Monfils take his balls and go home?

i like it

Watching the game, I didn't realise that was why he was soo irate, just lost the set 6-2, fair enough enforcing the rule, but if its rushing the ball kids, that might need some altering.
O wonder if theyre still allowed to use their sense... give the players longer if it's a long point

This rule is inhumane for the ball-kids.
Practically child labour.

Imo this rule should be swiftly overturned, and the time limit should be extended to 30 seconds.

It's a good trial run either way, enforcing the rules a good idea, gets on with the match, this tournament might be a good barometer as to whether 25 secs is fine or if it looks like its rushing or worrying players, and whether 30 might be better.

Keep it at 25. They are ball kids, not towel kids. Let the players get their own towels within the time limit.

It Must Be Love wrote:This rule is inhumane for the ball-kids.
Practically child labour.

Imo this rule should be swiftly overturned, and the time limit should be extended to 30 seconds.

That's the fault of the player though, not the rule.

If the player feels the need to utilise the ball-kids 'inhumanely' (so to speak) then that's their choice.

It Must Be Love wrote:This rule is inhumane for the ball-kids.
Practically child labour.

Post of the year, so far......

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:

It Must Be Love wrote:This rule is inhumane for the ball-kids.
Practically child labour.

Post of the year, so far......

haha i was gonna say, maybe a bit ott

Unbelievable that this sort of stuff is going on in the 21st century.

Julius, you say players should then be forced to get their towels... Ok, but what happens if you are a slow walker?
Then walking to and back from the towel rack may take so much time that the players don't have time to wipe sweat from their face.
We wouldn't want that would we?

Also, what happens if a player had a disability (such as obsessive compulsive disorder) and simply can't cope within this time limit.
Do we punish them just because they are disabled?
It's like punishing a dyslexic child if they don't get 100% in a spelling test, inhumane and vicious.

I can't imagine what it would be like for a player to play a point with a sweaty forehead.

That, my friends, is the very definition of inhumane.

IMBL are you serious?
If you're a slow walker, er gee, hurry up a bit. Not beyond the capabilities of a professional athlete, surely?
What if a player needs a wee after every point because of a physical problem? Are we to punish them by not letting them go to the toilet?

Sweatbands, headbands, a towelling cloth in a pocket or sewn into the sleeve. What if 30 seconds isn't enough to towel down - maybe 1 minute 30 seconds for a quick sit down and a massage after a long rally.

25 seconds is a perfectly reasonable amount of time - as proven by the vast majority of players who can and do adhere to the rule. If you can't stick to the rules, don't play the game.

My suggestion to any tennis player with any mental disorder that prevents them from adhering to any of the rules of tennis is to get professional psychiatric help or take up another sport.

What if a player gets the yips and double faults a lot i.e. can't cope with the double fault rule - should we allow them to have 3 or 4 serves? Or just let them keep going til they get one in?

djlovesyou wrote:I can't imagine what it would be like for a player to play a point with a sweaty forehead.

That, my friends, is the very definition of inhumane.

It Must Be Love wrote:Unbelievable that this sort of stuff is going on in the 21st century.

Julius, you say players should then be forced to get their towels... Ok, but what happens if you are a slow walker?
Then walking to and back from the towel rack may take so much time that the players don't have time to wipe sweat from their face.
We wouldn't want that would we?

Also, what happens if a player had a disability (such as obsessive compulsive disorder) and simply can't cope within this time limit.
Do we punish them just because they are disabled?
It's like punishing a dyslexic child if they don't get 100% in a spelling test, inhumane and vicious.

Sadly I think you are serious.

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Sweatbands, headbands, a towelling cloth in a pocket or sewn into the sleeve. What if 30 seconds isn't enough to towel down - maybe 1 minute 30 seconds for a quick sit down and a massage after a long rally.

1 minute 30. Seriously? Have you even thought this through?

How are the players supposed to rearrange their bottles between every point, or bounce the ball 100 times, or flirt with the crowd (or ball girls, if it's Madrid) and maybe send a text message to update their score on twitter.

With the current 25 second rule, players only get to towel down their head. I don't know about you but my whole body gets sweaty when I'm playing sport. It simply isn't practical to towel down your whole body and showers don't fit on the court. We need at least 10 minutes between each point. Anything less is just wasting everyone's time. A massage in 90 seconds, be realistic please.

Last year I was watching a match at the Australian Open, and I just nipped out during the second set to visit a few friends in another city and do some shopping and get a new haircut and get a 3-course lunch and get my MOT done, and when I got back we were already in the 4th set! I'd missed half of the match. A lot of matches these days start and finish on the same day and that just isn't good enough when it comes to competing with A grade sports such as cricket.

It's such a heartbreaking situation in tennis right now. Players abused by nasty umpires, who want them to give up their legitimate towelling procedures, ball boys unfairly threated like slavery and worse of all disabled people humiliation. I mean that's very bad!

As Russell Howard would say "its political correctness gone mad!"

I'd thought it was Nadal fan girls and boys gone mad......

i know bud but i wanted to just throw that in there and he has never talked about nadal on his show, to my own knowledge.

Henman Bill wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Sweatbands, headbands, a towelling cloth in a pocket or sewn into the sleeve. What if 30 seconds isn't enough to towel down - maybe 1 minute 30 seconds for a quick sit down and a massage after a long rally.

1 minute 30. Seriously? Have you even thought this through?

How are the players supposed to rearrange their bottles between every point, or bounce the ball 100 times, or flirt with the crowd (or ball girls, if it's Madrid) and maybe send a text message to update their score on twitter.

With the current 25 second rule, players only get to towel down their head. I don't know about you but my whole body gets sweaty when I'm playing sport. It simply isn't practical to towel down your whole body and showers don't fit on the court. We need at least 10 minutes between each point. Anything less is just wasting everyone's time. A massage in 90 seconds, be realistic please.

Last year I was watching a match at the Australian Open, and I just nipped out during the second set to visit a few friends in another city and do some shopping and get a new haircut and get a 3-course lunch and get my MOT done, and when I got back we were already in the 4th set! I'd missed half of the match. A lot of matches these days start and finish on the same day and that just isn't good enough when it comes to competing with A grade sports such as cricket.

Wow, I'm amazed, you actually managed to write something remotely amusing, for once.

Maybe there is life after gambling.



rotapicname

bazinga

Saw the first set of Gasquet v Zemelja. The commentators noticed Gasquet was playing very rushed. It looked like he was trying hard not to be penalized. In the tiebreak (at about 5 all) Zemelja was about to serve and the time since the last point flashed on the screen. It was 41 seconds. Zemalja still hadn't served but the time was removed. The commentator sort of went Oh but said no more. This was in total contrast to their excited chatter about punishments previously. Zemelia went on to win the tie break.

I wonder what would have happened if Gasquet hadn't been rushed, or had taken 41 seconds between points or if Zemelja had been penalised?

Ha ha! Maybe players should have a stop watch not just to time their own actions but to time their opponents. Coaches should do so too. There is a lot at stake in tennis matches and players should be careful that they are treated equally.

A lot of sympathy on here for players who are simply being forced to abide by an existing rule.

I'm sure there will be the odd bit of leniency for 40 stroke rallies in the blistering heat, but essentially this is a good thing in my opinion.

Henman Bill wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Sweatbands, headbands, a towelling cloth in a pocket or sewn into the sleeve. What if 30 seconds isn't enough to towel down - maybe 1 minute 30 seconds for a quick sit down and a massage after a long rally.

1 minute 30. Seriously? Have you even thought this through?

How are the players supposed to rearrange their bottles between every point, or bounce the ball 100 times, or flirt with the crowd (or ball girls, if it's Madrid) and maybe send a text message to update their score on twitter.

With the current 25 second rule, players only get to towel down their head. I don't know about you but my whole body gets sweaty when I'm playing sport. It simply isn't practical to towel down your whole body and showers don't fit on the court. We need at least 10 minutes between each point. Anything less is just wasting everyone's time. A massage in 90 seconds, be realistic please.

Last year I was watching a match at the Australian Open, and I just nipped out during the second set to visit a few friends in another city and do some shopping and get a new haircut and get a 3-course lunch and get my MOT done, and when I got back we were already in the 4th set! I'd missed half of the match. A lot of matches these days start and finish on the same day and that just isn't good enough when it comes to competing with A grade sports such as cricket.

Brilliant

In all seriousness I do genuinely believe we should stretch the time limit to 30 seconds.

Hope your favourite player haven't heard about this news HE, if so he would further delay his comeback citing head ache now

JuliusHMarx wrote:Keep it at 25. They are ball kids, not towel kids. Let the players get their own towels within the time limit.

Who will line up the bottle then

invisiblecoolers wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:Keep it at 25. They are ball kids, not towel kids. Let the players get their own towels within the time limit.

Who will line up the bottle then

Monfils in his match yesterday eventually worked out what to do. He went straight to the baseline and stood still gesturing at the ball kid. The ball kid who didn't want to get in trouble as after all he knew how to count to 25 and had the eyes of the crowd and the umpire now on him scampered as fast as he could to fetch the towel for Monfils.

hawkeye wrote:ball kid...scampered as fast as he could ....

Outrageous! Someone should inform UNICEF about this abhorrent situation

Ha ha! I can see there are quite a few here on 606v2 who reckon tennis needed spicing up. All those endless forehands and backhands are boring in themselves. A distraction is needed. Big clocks, buzzers, punishments, arguments over timing. Tennis must after all keep up with reality TV.

JuliusHMarx wrote:

hawkeye wrote:ball kid...scampered as fast as he could ....

Outrageous! Someone should inform UNICEF about this abhorrent situation

Ha ha! But the point I was making was that the quickness of the ball kid would determine if Monfils was punished. This could have an effect on the outcome of the match.

hawkeye wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

hawkeye wrote:ball kid...scampered as fast as he could ....

Outrageous! Someone should inform UNICEF about this abhorrent situation

Ha ha! But the point I was making was that the quickness of the ball kid would determine if Monfils was punished. This could have an effect on the outcome of the match.

Then, maybe Monfils should think about playing the points without the need for a personal servant panicking to get there in time.

hawkeye wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

hawkeye wrote:ball kid...scampered as fast as he could ....

Outrageous! Someone should inform UNICEF about this abhorrent situation

Ha ha! But the point I was making was that the quickness of the ball kid would determine if Monfils was punished. This could have an effect on the outcome of the match.

That is actually a very good point.
This is turning into a total farce now.

The winner will just be the player with the fastest ball kid, what a joke.

They'll probably me some IPL style bidding war as well for who gets to have the fastest ball boys always on their side of the court.

Ludicrous.

Or the players could just behave like decent human beings (tougher for some) and alter their playing style so they don't have to rely on not getting the pie-eating ballkid at their end.

Decent human beings should be given the right to towel their face.

In which sport/profession would this right be declined?

Between points is fine, youve got plenty of tim to pick up 3 balls and serve. I think the commentators noted that between serve changeovers in tiebreaks, the kids had to be pretty quick getting all the balls over the other side.

How long till we get a big brother style diary room on changeovers

It Must Be Love wrote:Decent human beings should be given the right to towel their face.

In which sport/profession would this right be declined?

Snooker

Spoiler:

I watched the WTF semis, in the O2 between Del P and Djokovic.
Both players were taking well over 25-30 seconds between serves.


But no one really cared at all. Everyone I asked afterwards were commenting on how much they enjoyed the game.
If not anything the few seconds extra they took between points helped build up tension and create an electric atmosphere.