Men’s tennis tour to trial ‘off-court’ coaching
LONDON: The ATP, which runs the men’s professional tennis tour, has announced it will trial “off-court” coaching at the US Open and all other events in the second half of this season.
The governing body said coaching would be permitted from designated seats during qualifying and main draw matches at events starting from July 11. Verbal and non-verbal coaching will be allowed only if it does not interrupt play or hinder the opponent, with verbal coaching only permitted when the player is at the same end of the court. Hand signals are allowed at any time but coaches may not speak to their player when he leaves the court for any reason. Penalties and fines will still apply for abuse or misuse of the new coaching conditions.
The trial will run through to the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin in November.
The ATP announcement brings the men’s tour into alignment with the women’s WTA Tour, which already has an offcourt coaching trial in place. Coaching for players during matches has long been a thorny issue in tennis, with players often complaining that an opponent has received advice from their coach despite rules that prohibited it for many years.
The ATP said that penalties and fines would apply for abuse or misuse of the coaching conditions.
Laver Cup goes to Vancouver and Berlin
PARIS: Vancouver and Berlin will host the 2023 and 2024 editions of the Laver Cup, organisers announced on Wednesday.
The sixth edition of the tournament will be held between September 22-24, 2023, at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena, while the 2024 edition will be from September 20-22 in Berlin.