Umpires At The Open Will Be Fair And Consistent

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 11th January 2013

Rafael Nadal will not compete in 2012 Mubadala World Tennis Championship

Umpires At The Open Will Be Fair And Consistent

epa03517829 file -- File photo showing Spanish Rafael Nadal during his match against Swiss Roger Federer at Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 31 December 2011. The tournament organizers announced on 25 December 2012 that 'Rafael Nadal has been forced to make a last-minute withdrawal from the 2012 event due to a stomach virus,' and 'was advised by doctors not to travel or compete due to the illness.' Nadal has not played since June 2012, when he was eliminated in Wimbledon's 2nd round by Czech Lukas Rosol. He was supposed to come back after a successful knee injury rehab. EPA/ALI HAIDER |

Australian Open tournament referee Wayne McKewen called for calm amidst growing player angst at the newly instigated ATP World Tour time rulings and ordered his chair umpires to employ common sense and good judgment.

McEewen pointed out that the rule for Grand Slam events has always been a maximum of 20 seconds between points, rather than the 25 that has been rigidly enforced in this year’s ATP tournaments. He intends to address the chair umpires before the main draw matches begin on Monday and said his message will be “keep it fair, keep it consistent.”

However there is a determination to stricter on the time issue than ever before and officials will be told to first give a warning and then begin imposing penalties points if slow play continues.

McKewen said: “We don’t want players out there being penalized after playing a fantastic point, but then again we don’t want players deliberately taking too long and that’s what we really look at. We focus on that and tell them to use good common sense, good judgment.

“If the crowd is still going nuts after a fantastic point then obviously there can be a little bit of leeway. But what we don’t want to see is players repeatedly stalling the match by taking too long over their serves.”

The 2012 Australian Open final, in which Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal after 5 hours, 53 minutes, was the longest final in the history of Grand Slam tennis. The two players are known to be serial offenders in breaking the time rules but McKewen added:

“Last year’s final was a classic match, the points were lasting incredibly long. In a case like that, you don’t want to be killing it for everyone.”