New Rule To Spice Up Tennis

First topic message reminder :

Things are a bit boring at the moment so a new rule has been introduced to spice things up. The 25 second rule between points is to be more rigidly enforced. No ifs and buts if the server goes over 25 seconds they have to take a second serve. If the receiver is not ready no matter how quickly the server serves they receive a point penalty. (Ha ha! I can imagine some fun as servers run more between points than during them in order to win points)

At Doha we have been treated to the new Umpire lecture at the beginning of every match were players are told in no uncertain terms exactly were they stand. Take 26 seconds whatever the reason and they will be punished. To spice it up even more they will not be told exactly when the 26 seconds start and unless they carry a stop watch or have a very good body clock they will find it difficult to keep track of the time. (Ha ha! They could always use the trusty 1 elephant, 2 elephant counting method. I will be watching their lips)

Because tennis has been so boring the commentators have been extremely excited about this new rule and they can barely contain themselves with their excited chat about how this rule will change the game and how interesting it will be to watch players reactions to getting punished at crucial times in the match. (Much more fun than seeing how they respond in crucial times with backhands and forehands...). It has also given the commentators yet another opportunity to talk about everyone's favorite player who is sadly missing at the moment. Has anyone told him about the new rule? What will be his reaction? What fun it will be when he gets punished? Ha ha!

What is really needed though to introduce a little interest for the spectators and get them involved is for a huge clock to be placed in a prominent part of the court. They could then count down the seconds until a load buzzer indicates that a player will be punished. Maybe every time this happens they could respond with a Mexican wave and big hand painted signs saying "LOSER"? It would be great fun for everyone and would ensure that the crowd stays awake.

Not if it takes too long to fit into the rules.

Should they stop a football match everytime a player gets a little bit sweaty because it's the player's right to towel their face?

Should the twelfth man be allowed to run on to the pitch after every ball to give a towel to the batsman?

Half the time, wiping sweat is a complete affectation. Rusedski was terrible at it and his towel would barely even touch his face. Murray and Nadal (amongst other timewasting gamesmanship irritations) are also terribly guilty of this.

Do Cyclists, Marathon runners or Triathletes stop to towel themselves down? No they just get on with it, besides Tennis players have a changeover, plenty time to do it then, plus they can wear sweatbands, headbands or use the sleeve of their shirt.

djlovesyou wrote:Not if it takes too long to fit into the rules.

Should they stop a football match everytime a player gets a little bit sweaty because it's the player's right to towel their face?

Should the twelfth man be allowed to run on to the pitch after every ball to give a towel to the batsman?

Yes, in football the player is allowed to go off the pitch at any time he likes to towel his face. It's just that his team would be down to 10 men. But he's allowed.

In cricket they are allowed as well at the end of every over.

In the words of McEnroe, you cannot be serious.

But the tennis player is allowed too - but they run the risk of losing the point or faulting the serve.

Problem solved.

In cricket they are allowed, but it would soon stop should they abuse the system like tennis players do.

It Must Be Love wrote:Decent human beings should be given the right to towel their face.

In which sport/profession would this right be declined?

They already have the right to towel their face. They can towel down, juggle the balls, surf the net, (pick their bum, tidy their hair) - whatever they want, as long as they play within the rules and do it in 25 seconds.

Of course, it's physically impossible to walk to the back of the court, pick up a towel and use it. They need the 'towel servant' to do it for them.

On the other hand I believe UN Resolution 1527 states "Decent human beings should be given the right to towel their face." so you may have got me there.

You're all just a bunch of towels!

JuliusHMarx wrote:
On the other hand I believe UN Resolution 1527 states "Decent human beings should be given the right to towel their face." so you may have got me there.

This is just another way that the state is trying to take our way our freedom and oppress us.

Now even when I pop along to David Lloyd for a quick practice session I'll be more worried that a police officer will catch me for taking more than 25 seconds between servers than actually playing.
Where have our priorities gone?

flip flop

I bring good news.

Just received news from my sources within the ATP council that these rule changes will not apply to Grand Slams.
Fantastic stuff.

I thought Rafa wasn't on the council anymore?

He's not.
My source is though

The players have spoken up against this tyranny:
https://mobile.twitter.com/AndujarPablo/status/286213992714735619

It Must Be Love wrote:He's not.
My source is though

Ah, must be Federer then.

Monfils on why he sweats:

http://tennis.si.com/2013/01/02/gael-monfils-time-violation/

Sorry IMBL, I realise that, like Monfils, the rules shouldn't apply to you, only to everyone else

That's not what Monfils was saying.
He was arguing that black people tend to sweat more often.

And the ATP rule change affects people who sweat, more than others.
So really discrimination.

It Must Be Love wrote:That's not what Monfils was saying.
He was arguing that black people tend to sweat more often.

And the ATP rule change affects people who sweat, more than others.
So really discrimination.

What utter nonsense. You get very sweaty white people and very sweaty black people and vice versa. Discrimination my ar$e.
25 seconds is plenty for even someone as ghastly as Cyril Smith to towel themselves sufficiently and serve a point.

I'm not worried about what Monfils is saying. It was your follow up line - which was NOT what Monfils was saying.

Discrimination against heavy sweaters. Oh no, how can the ATP sleep at night?!
The width of the court discriminates against players who can't run as fast as others - that's just blatant discrimination.
Playing in the bright sunlight discriminates against those with sensitive eyes or ginger hair - that's outrageous - it should be stopped. Oh, the humanity....

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWaSgKfK-sc

I hate you IMBL...

For what?

The annoyance at ATPs new rule or the 'Say Whaaat' clip?

yeah anyone who watches that show goes down a lot in my estimations.

LuvSports! wrote:yeah anyone who watches that show goes down a lot in my estimations.

I don't watch it lol

It's a good 'say whaat' clip on UTube though

I have to wash myself now...

Are you implying what I think.

Of course not I just need to "cleanse" myself of the "impurities" that have entered my system after hearing HM sing

falzy21 wrote:Of course not I just need to "cleanse" myself of the "impurities" that have entered my system after hearing HM sing

She didn't sing in the clip, did she?

She may not have, I think i may have had a mini fit upon clicking the link expecting a tennis vid only to realise id been Hm trolled.

The Special Juan wrote:

It Must Be Love wrote:Decent human beings should be given the right to towel their face.

In which sport/profession would this right be declined?

Snooker

Spoiler:

Darts, judging by the way the darts players seem to sweat buckets on the stage due to the extremely high heat/humid conditions that they have to play in.

It Must Be Love wrote:I bring good news.

Just received news from my sources within the ATP council that these rule changes will not apply to Grand Slams.
Fantastic stuff.

That may be linked to the fact that Slams apply a 20 sec rule. Please ask your source.

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:

It Must Be Love wrote:I bring good news.

Just received news from my sources within the ATP council that these rule changes will not apply to Grand Slams.
Fantastic stuff.

That may be linked to the fact that Slams apply a 20 sec rule. Please ask your source.

Must be good news just for Nadal and not for his potential opponents.

super_realist wrote:

It Must Be Love wrote:That's not what Monfils was saying.
He was arguing that black people tend to sweat more often.

And the ATP rule change affects people who sweat, more than others.
So really discrimination.

What utter nonsense. You get very sweaty white people and very sweaty black people and vice versa. Discrimination my ar$e.
25 seconds is plenty for even someone as ghastly as Cyril Smith to towel themselves sufficiently and serve a point.

Monfils, gosh isn't the guy a true idiot? You find them everywhere, irrespective of skin color.....

gboycottnut wrote:

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:

It Must Be Love wrote:I bring good news.

Just received news from my sources within the ATP council that these rule changes will not apply to Grand Slams.
Fantastic stuff.

That may be linked to the fact that Slams apply a 20 sec rule. Please ask your source.

Must be good news just for Nadal and not for his potential opponents.

Sure, and also for the legions of Nadal fangirls and boys, if it was true.

Personally I don't think there should be a set time limit between points. Once you put it in the rules that players should stick to exactly 25 seconds, 20 seconds or any specific number of seconds it's asking for trouble. There will always be times when flexibility will be required but once you have a set time all exceptions will require explanation making umpiring, playing and "fairness" difficult.

The old rule was something more vague like "players should serve in a timely manner" or "play shouldn't be disrupted". A good umpire should be able to enforce such rules and also make sure that no player is gaining advantage by making another player wait.

Personally I have no interest in watching tennis turned into a circus by having petty rules interfere with play.

Yes why not!
Lets allow 5 minutes between each point to allow players to recover as much as possible.
And while we are at it, why not just allow them to have a massage inbetween points followed by some light entertainment.

shucks!

So HE, it would be OK to take a couple of minutes between points as long as the player considers that 'a timely manner'?

Wish they'd apply something similar in golf. a four hour round turned into 6 hours.

I think the old rule was 25 sec for ATP and 20 for Slams. It just wasn't enforced, making the whole thing a lot disctretionary......

I kinda see the point He makes... when you set a specific time between every point, it says exactly that, for every type of point. I have no issue with players taking a bit longer after a 30 shot rally, or on a break point in the 5th set. Applying the same time constraint for these points, to a point decided by an ace sounds like a blanket rule, and I don't think thats the best rule.

The old rule was fine, except it was never enforced. The players themselves don't decide what "a timely manner" is for each point, but the umpires do, being guided by the ATP guidelines of course... say 25 secs for most points, maybe 35 when you feel there's valid reason.

Problem is they'd give a warning, but not a point penalty. Of they did just gives points away, people would speed up quickly

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:

gboycottnut wrote:

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:

It Must Be Love wrote:I bring good news.

Just received news from my sources within the ATP council that these rule changes will not apply to Grand Slams.
Fantastic stuff.

That may be linked to the fact that Slams apply a 20 sec rule. Please ask your source.

Must be good news just for Nadal and not for his potential opponents.

Sure, and also for the legions of Nadal fangirls and boys, if it was true.

Jeremy_Kyle. I'm sure you will be sad to know that Nadal is out of action because he is recovering from a stomach virus so it is only other players that have to worry about being punished for breaking this newly tightened rule. I can understand your confusion though because a lot of the talk about this appears to involve him. Strange but then a lot of the talk about tennis does involve Nadal whether he is playing or not...

JuliusHMarx

It would be for the umpire to decide what is a "timely manor" not the players obviously. I'm pretty sure the umpire wouldn't think a couple of minutes was acceptable. Although I can remember one occasion when Murray was serving at break point down in the US Open semi final when the umpire thought it acceptable that Murray should take 5 whole minutes before he served... (He decided to think about changing his wrist band, slowly walk off court, root around in his bag to locate one, with difficulty open the cellophane wrapper, struggle to put it on his wrist, have a little conversation with the umpire..... I think it might have been this point that Henman Bill mentioned a few pages back)

HE, so if the umpire decided that 25 seconds was the maximum 'timely manner' you'd be OK with that?

In fact, come to think of it, that's what they're saying now

Was that when his hat blew off? Clearly 5 mins isn't timely, but i'm willing to forgive it in that match since the conditions were atrocious, it was barely even playable. Murrays reasonably timely otherwise

It's taking the umpires out of the equation. If umpires were strictly 25 secs every point then fair enough. I'd disagree and ask the umpire to be flexible a little when the need might arise. However the rule essentially states that the umpire isn't allowed any judgement... but then he/she is the umpire, I feel that's their job

JuliusHMarx wrote:HE, so if the umpire decided that 25 seconds was the maximum 'timely manner' you'd be OK with that?

In fact, come to think of it, that's what they're saying now

A "timely manner" would sometimes be 25 seconds and sometime a different number of seconds depending on what was timely in the circumstances... 25 seconds = 25 seconds.

hawkeye wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:HE, so if the umpire decided that 25 seconds was the maximum 'timely manner' you'd be OK with that?

In fact, come to think of it, that's what they're saying now

A "timely manner" would sometimes be 25 seconds and sometime a different number of seconds depending on what was timely in the circumstances... 25 seconds = 25 seconds.

No - 25 seconds is anywhere between 0 and 25 seconds. Could be 10, could be 20, could be anything up to 25, after which, the ATP consider there to be no good reason, during the normal course of play, for that to be exceeded. Long rallies, excessive sweating, mentally composing yourself etc. are not considered valid reasons for exceeding 25 seconds - players should be able to cope with those within the alloted time.
There will be exceptions for hawkeye challenges, crowd interruptions etc. anything outside the normal course of play.

I know a way that can definitely spice up tennis for just us male fans who genuinely follow the women's tour purely to see the tennis playing, and that is to introduce a rule whereby the female tennis player isn't allowed to change clothing in the privacy of a shower cubicle backstage during the course of a match, but instead they have to (like the men) change any clothing out there on the court in full view of the spectators and right in front of the TV camera! And to give female players the incentive to do this, bonus points are awarded for each item of clothing that is changed!

kinda pervy....

I shall go beat one off in a 'timely manner'