In this week’s episode of the Margin of Error podcast, Amy and Jeff Sackmann of Tennis Abstract and Heavy Topspin discuss Rafael Nadal’s time violations, Ernests Gulbis’ lofty rankings goals, and more.
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I don’t follow any one player so no loyalties to defend.
The time violation rule has really annoyed me the last year or so. As you discussed Nadal in the Rio final I’ll use that as an example. Nadal won 6-3 7-6 which is a typical scoreline for one of his best of 3 match (25 second rule applies to best of 3 matches, not slams). He played 68 points on serve. If he took an average of….let’s say 28 seconds per point then is an extra 3 x 68 seconds really going to make a big difference? If the ATP want to shorten matches then why not knock 10 or 20 seconds off each change of ends? Or is TV advertising revenue more important? Why not allow a max of 2 first serves per game? Change ends after 4 games instead of 2?
I often watch tennis with young kids and watching Novak, Rafa, Berdych, DelPo etc taking an extra few seconds isn’t a problem, however I hate when the kids see Murray, Gulbis & Novak scream obscenities, smash rackets or in Novak’s case they’ve seen him smash the bench during the Roland Garros final & kick the on court clock in the Shanghai final.
They’re the things the ATP should punish players for, they should lose 1st serve / lose the point if they do any of the above.
Is Juan Jose not writing for the site anymore? I really enjoyed his analysis (and I miss the podcast too!)