Clampdown on ‘injury’ withdrawals

WIMBLEDON and the other Grand Slams are moving to try and prevent a repeat of the first-round ‘injury’ withdrawals that have blighted the biggest tournaments this year. There will be threat of fines for those who go on court knowing they are not fully fit, plus a financial incentive to stop the practice of picking up loser’s first round money. As Sportsmail revealed during Wimbledon, there was considerable anger among the game’s hierarchy at the bad look presented by seven male players retiring during The Championships, and a resolve to hit offenders in the pocket. The four Grand Slams collectively announced yesterday that any qualified player, already onsite, withdrawing before the draw is made would receive 50 per cent of the prize money, with the other half going to a ‘lucky loser’ from the preliminary event who would replace them. There is the threat that any player who ‘competes in the First Round Main Draw singles and retires or performs below professional standards, may now be subject to a fine up to First Round Prize Money’. However, whether that vague wording would stand up to any form of legal scrutiny must be open to question. The matter has been brought to a head after two players who retired on Centre Court last year took home £35,000 in prize money. Predictably, few of the recent innovations trialled at the recent NextGen finals in Milan have made it into the rulebook, but umpires will be told to strictly enforce current warm-up limits. Wimbledon has resisted introducing a ‘shot clock’, but the Australian Open will experiment with having a timer enforcing a 25-second maximum between points.