New tennis rules are ‘unfair’ but may become a norm

abu dhabi — There’s players introduction which mirrors boxing ring announcements. Then there is light show and soundtracks. Amid all this showmanship, two players walk out on the court with a wave of hand to the fans as tennis is after all a traditional game. Such and more innovations were seen throughout the year, including the Next Gen ATP Finals where a whole set of rules was also introduced.

Dig this: Hawk Eye replaces line judges, 25-second shot clock, best of five sets but with four-game sets and tie-break at 3-all, no service lets, coaching through headset at end of each set, only one medical timeout per player per match and fans allowed to move around during the match except at baselines were the main changes introduced by ATP at Next Gen ATP Finals last month.

While players are fine with offcourt glitzy additions, most of them in fray at Mubadala World Tennis Championship don’t welcome oncourt rule changes which were made to make tennis more appealing to the young fans.

Next Gen ATP Finals finalist Andrey Rublev said four-game set matches weren’t good for the game.

“The rules they put outside the game doesn’t change the way tennis is played. But when they start to put new rules inside the game then it affects the game completely. The changes inside the game are not fair. With these rules everybody can beat everybody. Even if you are winning but in one moment you lose focus and everything changes,” the 20-year-old said.

The second youngest player in

Accepted such rules will make interesting

TV viewership

the ATP top 50 accepted such rules will make interesting TV viewership but wasn’t ‘fair’ for the players. “With normal rules, only the player who works really hard wins. They have broken this norm and I don’t think it is fair,” World No. 39 said.

World No. 5 Dominic Thiem liked some of the rules but not all the changes.

“Shot clock is very good. It’s going to be in Australian Open as well. So, it’s a big improvement in tennis.” Thiem, however, said changes shouldn’t be made inside the game.

“Set until four isn’t nice as it doesn’t take less time than a normal set. So there’s no sense of changing it. This is a very traditional sport. I don’t know if it should change. It is very good the way it is. There are some small things to improve like shot clock is a very good one. Everybody has to be careful with changes,” the 24-year-old said.

Meanwhile, World No. 10 Pablo Carreno Busta said that even though he didn’t like some of the rules, he wouldn’t be surprised to see them being used in next tournaments.

“It is important for tennis to continue evolving for the fans and people who love the sport. It is important to change things and do it more interesting. Next Generation ATP Finals was a good start. For sure, I like some of the rules if not all.”

Also, experienced hand Kevin Anderson said as the sport was trying to engage newer audience such changes were inevitable and he saw such rules becoming a regular feature.

“I have seen it on TV. There’re some exciting new rules. Obviously theirs is a tough balance between history of tennis and connecting with the new generation of fans. And that’s what we have to cater to. Lot of sports is moving in that direction. You have to adjust with the times and see what’s going to make tennis more appealing in 10-20 years. Young people see the world very differently than what people did 40-50 years ago. So, I think we might have to embrace some of these changes,” World No. 15 said.

ashwani@khaleejtimes.com

50