Players Upset Over ATP Decision To Speed Up the Match

Written by: Staff on 10th January 2013

Players Upset Over ATP Decision To Speed Up the Match

epa03390155 Chair umpire Pascal Maria (L) talks to Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic (R) about Andy Murray's hat falling off in the middle of play during their semifinal match on the thirteenth day of the 2012 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 08 September 2012. The US Open runs through Sunday 09 September 2012. EPA/JASON SZENES EPA/LARRY W. SMITH |

As the Australian Open grows ever closer, dissent is multiplying among the playing ranks about the revision of the time rules that maintain umpires take a more stringent view of stalling between points and the gap between points be shortened from 30 seconds to 25.

World no.6 Tomas Berdych, always in a mind to speak his mind if he has a grievance, predicts the new ruling will cause trouble if extremely hot weather hits next week’s major tournament and the lateness in conveying the message to players meant they could not work on quickening up their games in the off season.

Berdych maintained he didn’t receive any personal notification prior to setting out for the new season and insisted the first he knew was on a notice pinned to the wall in the locker room at last week’s tournament.

The Czech was fiercely critical of the ATP World Tour and said: “The first time I heard about it was in Chennai when I saw it written on the wall. I said, ‘What is this?’ and they said they sent an email with the change of the rules.

“I said, ‘You’re changing such a big thing and you tell people only like that?’. And they said ‘Yeah, we sent an email’.

“If you know in advance, you have a chance to kind of prepare in the off-season because you need to start doing things differently if you want to make it in 25 seconds. You really have to practice it.”

Berdych was one of the first players to be penalized in the new rulings where a warning is issued on the first occurrence of taking more than 25 seconds and thereafter the umpire is ordered to call a fault.

“I was not happy at all,” he seethed. “I think there are many question marks around it and I don’t see any good reason to have this rule.

“The hot conditions, it’s almost impossible to make it in the time between points. I had the experience in Chennai where it was really humid and you need the towel every time you finish a rally.

“The whole game pattern goes away, everything you’ve been doing for so many years is just gone in one decision. I haven’t seen one single guy delaying a game for a purpose. Not my opponent, not anyone I’ve seen on TV. No-one. And they come up with this idea.”

And Berdych insisted the rule would kill off any repeats of last year’s classic Australian Open final. ”It’s not going to help improving the game, there’s going to be no chance to see the matches, like Rafa and Djoko in the final,”he said.

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Australian Open, Sports, Tennis News, tennis time rules