Anyone who has followed these last few days the Shanghai Masters 1000 You will have seen that tempers are quite heated among the tennis players. Frances Tiafoe completely lost her temper by insulting and yelling at the referee. Stefanos Tsitsipas had a rather cocky discussion with another chair umpire. Novak Djokovic said some unkind words after being reprimanded.
What is happening? The reality is that These three angers have a common denominator: the new rule on the time between points that the ATP has introduced. The men’s circuit wants to speed up the matches, making them shorter and shorter, and for them the rule regarding the seconds that players have between the end of a point and the start of the next has slightly changed.
Actually, The number of seconds between each point has not changed, it is still 25. The change is that until now it was the referee who activated the stopwatch, while with the new rule the countdown starts automatically three seconds after the point ends. The ATP already tested this rule a few months ago, on the grass tour, causing the rejection, among others, of Carlos Alcaraz.
“I understand that you want to speed up the pace of tennis matches, but at the same time we have to know at the beginning of the season what it will be like. We cannot change it in the middle of the season”
“I’m not talking about going for the towel, or taking some time. I don’t even have time to go to the balls. It’s crazy. I only have time to order two balls and I can’t even throw them away. I have never seen it in tennis“said the Murcian during the Queen’s tournament. “If you play a long point or end up in the net, you don’t have time to go get the towel or you can’t do the routine. “You can’t concentrate on the next point.”
At that time the matter did not transcend much because on the grass tour the points are shorter and the game is less physically demanding. In addition, it was tested in two ATP 500 category tournaments. Now, however, it is a Masters 1000 on a hard court, with much longer rallies and more wear and tear on the players. The ATP has not explained if it is still a test or if the rule is already implemented.
“I understand that it’s not up to you, but this rule change is incredible”Novak Djokovic complained this Wednesday during his victory over the Russian Roman Safiullin, a match refereed by the Spanish Nacho Forcadell. “They started implementing it without notifying any players. It’s incredible.”
“I understand that you want to speed up the pace of tennis matches, but at the same time We have to know at the beginning of the season what it will be like. We can’t change it mid-season.“added the 24-time Grand Slam champion. Djokovic, founder of the largest players’ union today, had not played a tournament organized by the ATP since May, since the Grand Slam, the Games and the Davis Cup are under the umbrella of the International Tennis Federation and the rules vary slightly.
Tiafoe’s anger
The most talked-about episode of these days in Shanghai has been starring the American Frances Tiafoe, who could receive an exemplary sanction from the ATP for seriously insulting the Ecuadorian chair umpire Jimmy Pinoargote. The referee had issued a second warning for wasting time on Tiafoe at a moment of maximum tension, when the match was 5-5 in the tie break of the third set and the American was preparing to serve.
The number 17 in the world ranking lost 5-7, 7-5 and 7-6 (7-5) against the Russian and exploded as soon as the match ended. “Fuck you, screw you, you fucking idiot! You’ve screwed up the game!” Tiafoe shouted in Pinoargote’s face. Without shaking hands, the tennis player continued insulting and yelling at the chair umpire.. A while later, Tiafoe posted a message on his social networks asking for forgiveness.
Tsitsipas: “You have no idea of tennis”
The Greek tennis player had a heated discussion this Wednesday with referee Fergus Murphy during his round of 16 match against Daniil Medvedev, after the chair umpire gave him a warning for exceeding the time Tsitsipas, number 12 in the world ranking, He began by addressing the chair umpire in the usual terms of a discussion like this, but then he raised his tone and reproached him with a certain boastfulness that he has no idea about tennis..
“Haven’t you played tennis in your life?“he asked the judge. “Yes, I played,” Murphy replied. “Well it seems like you have no idea“, followed the tennis. “I’m not as good as you, but I’ve played tennis,” was the referee’s elegant response.
“Surely you would play serving and volleying all the time. Tennis is a physical sport and we need time. Show some compassionbecause you are not showing it. Tennis is a physical sport. We’re not throwing darts“Tsitsipas added during his defeat against Medvedev.
Nadal and the origin of the stopwatch in tennis
The stopwatch between points was first introduced in tennis at the 2018 Australian Open. Since thentennis players have 25 seconds to serve. The rule was baptized at the time as “anti-Nadal” and the Spanish tennis player actually showed his rejection.
“I think it’s not a good thing for the future of the circuit. Personally, it doesn’t worry me. I’m not going to play for another 10 years. I can easily adapt to that,” Nadal explained at the end of 2017. “But, in my opinion, Playing at 15 or 18 degrees is not the same as playing at 35 and that is why we have chair judges, who are capable of evaluating the conditions to create the best possible show for the fans. “If you have a clock with 25 seconds to play with in some extreme situations, you can’t expect the best possible show.”
Since Australia 2018 and until the last change introduced by the ATP, that clock was activated just when the chair umpire awarded the previous point on his tablet. And that was something subjective: When the referee saw that the exchange had been exhausting, he could be compassionate and take longer than necessary to press the button in order to give the players more air. Now that’s over.
