Players To Discuss Time Violations In Melbourne, Council In Favor

Written by: Staff on 11th January 2013

Players To Discuss Time Violations In Melbourne, Council In Favor

epa03520254 John Isner for the USA returns a ball to Kevin Anderson for South Africa during the mens singles match of the Hopman Cup tennis tournament between the USA and South Africa in Peth, Australia, 30 December 2012. EPA/TONY MCDONOUGH AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

The ATP players will hold a general meeting in Melbourne this coming weekend and the recently adopted decision for umpires to come down on competitors who go over the 25 second rule will be hot topic of discussion.

A number of players have complained about being called for faults over the past two weeks at tournaments in Brisbane , Auckland and Sydney .

But ATP Players Council representative Kevin Anderson said that his group – which represents the players – voted for it and the South African thinks that it was sound move

“ I’m a huge fan of the rule.” Anderson said. “I mean, it’s tough. I feel like I’m playing quicker and I’m still adjusting to it, but I think the rules just for tennis in general, I think it’s a very good rule. And just being on the council, I was just part of the talks when we decided to put that through last year. I know it’s tough. We have a players’ meeting coming up in Australia tomorrow, and I think a few players will talk out about it. But I think it’s good to keep it in.”

Anderson said that ATP official Gayle Bradshaw put through two proposals that the Players Council voted on. one was a net cord experiment, which allows lets to played as an experiment on the Challenger level for next three months. The other was becoming harder on time violators.

“We actually went through a few options,” Anderson said. “We talked about having a sort of clock on the court, and we thought that wasn’t the best option. We spoke about the problem just before about umpires being really reluctant to give away a point straightaway. This was another option. I can’t remember what the vote was, but there are 10 of us, so there was a deciding vote to put that through.”

Some players, such as John Isner, said that he didn’t know that the rule was going to so strict, where umpires use stop watched and immediately call a player for a violation when he passes 25 seconds. First they give a warning, and the second time the server is given a fault.

But Anderson said there was discussion at the 2012 US Open. “I’m not sure if the rule went in straightaway,” he said. “The players do elect us in there. We try our best to talk about as many as we can. I think there might have been ones, you know, that just we voted for on behalf, so it’s the constituency that we represent.”

Players such as Andy Murray have said that he’s in favor of the rule as long’s it’s extended to 30 seconds, rather than current 25.

“ I was speaking to a few guys yesterday, and I think there’s a few people who are talking about maybe changing the rule a little bit, so it’s going to be interesting to see<’ Anderson said. I haven’t spoken to enough people to know exactly what guys are talking about. Just from my personal side, I would be happy to keep at 25 seconds. I think that’s where it’s leaning towards, so we’ll just have to see what people are saying. I think we’ll probably get a lot of that accomplished next week in Melbourne .”

The Grand Slams have a 20-second rule but traditionally have allowed the umpires to be flexible in calling violations, which have been rare at the majors. It is unclear if there be a change at the Australian Open.