Let’s get tough on the time wasters
Nearly everyone I’ve spoken to has raised the same complaint – time-wasting by players.
In particular, their endless ball-bouncing when serving is really annoying people.
Novak Djokovic and Marin Cilic have caused the most aggravation, and the authorities have to do something about it.
Djokovic sometimes bounces the ball as often as 18 times and that is gamesmanship, pure and simple.
It makes life very hard for his opponents.
It is accepted practice that the receiver has to play at the pace of the server.
But, believe me, when you are in the crouch position to receive serve, it is uncomfortable to hold it for more than a few seconds.
You have to reset yourself, and then you can suddenly find the serve on its way when you are not ready.
Kyle Edmund was clearly unsettled during his match against Djokovic. He raised it with the umpire, who eventually gave Novak a warning, which was greeted with applause by the crowd.
ITF rules state “a maximum of 25 seconds shall elapse from the moment the ball goes out of play at the end of the point until the time the ball is struck for the first serve of the next point”.
The rule adds: ‘If such a serve is a fault, then the second serve must be struck by the server without delay’.
How often is that rule enforced? Is routinely bouncing the ball a dozen times not a delay?
I’d like to see a rule introduced that players cannot bounce the ball more than four times before serving.
This year the US Open will have stop-clocks on every court, counting down the 25 seconds.
I’d like to see it introduced everywhere.