Tomas Berdych Suggests On-Court Clocks To Speed Up Play

Written by: Staff on 1st March 2013

Tomas Berdych Suggests On-Court Clocks To Speed Up Play

epa03602753 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic returns the ball to Tobias Kamke from Germany during their second round match of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis ATP Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 27 February 2013. EPA/ALI HAIDER |

Tomas Berdych was one of the harshest critics of the ATP World Tour’s new umpiring directive to tighten up on time rules between serves at the beginning of the year. And time is clearly not mellowing the Czech’s thoughts on the matter.

Playing in the Dubai Duty Free Championships, Berdych launched another tirade but insisted the one way to make the rule clearer for the players is to place a clock on court.

Berdych maintained he has seen a huge inconsistency on the way various umpires employ the new guidelines and thinks the installation of clocks as a part of the court would eradicate such problems.

“It’s so simple,” said the world no.6. “Let’s put the clock there. Then everybody goes by the clock. Up to now it’s really inconsistent and the umpires should be more clear on what is going on.

“The umpire can do whatever he wants. They say you have 25 seconds but if the umpire is having a bad day or doesn’t like you then it could be 24 seconds and away you go.”

Nevertheless the Czech remained quite categorical about the ATP’s guideline. “I don’t like it,” said Berdych. “I’m not a fan of it. I don’t see any single reason why to have this rule.”

Berdych insisted ball kids need to be more in tune with the new rules and sharpen up their act on occasions. “What should I do?” he asked. “You just stand there waiting for the ball, just waiting for the guy. What you can do? The time is running. Should I run to pick up the ball instead of him?

“Then the umpire tells me, ‘Hey, I will talk to them, like they are slow. But first I have to give you a warning.’ How is this working? First they should talk to the ball boys to be faster.”

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Atp World Tour, Berdych and on-court clocks, Dubai Duty Free Championships, Tennis News, Tomas Berdych