Kvitova and Nadal lead march of slowcoaches

A new study reveals top names are some of the worst offenders for tardy play, writes Simon Briggs

When it comes to innovation, 2018 will be the year of the shot-clock. The US Open has already announced that it will be the first major to introduce the technology as part of its main-draw matches, with a limit of 25 seconds between serves.

But which players will come under the most scrutiny?

The Game Insight

Group, based in Melbourne, has been logging the average speed between points at the Australian Open for the past two years.

The evidence shows that, in 2018, the most dilatory server among all the men in the draw was

– yes, you have guessed it

– world No1 Rafael

Nadal, at an average of 23.6 seconds between serves. Slightly more surprisingly, Petra Kvitova (pictured) finished bottom of the class among the women, with 26.3 seconds – a figure so high that, if she were to maintain it throughout the year, she could expect to lose every single service game at the US Open via time-violation penalties.

Also lurking in the hall of infamy is a repeat offender: Maria Sharapova, who came in at 24.5 seconds. The length of time between first and second serve was not analysed, but Sharapova is also painfully slow in this department. When you add in her deafening shrieks on each shot, it is clear why some fans find her an unappealing watch, despite her undoubted qualities as a competitor. Nadal and Sharapova both have lengthy pre-serve routines. He wipes his brow, tucks his hair behind his ears, rubs his nose and rearranges his underwear before throwing up the ball. She turns her back to her opponent and plucks at her strings. They also outperform their rivals in the difficult art of resetting the mind after each point.

But slow turnarounds between points do not always correspond to mental strength. Kvitova might be a ferocious competitor when dialled in, but she is also notorious for her intermittent focus. Who, then, are the players who get on with the game? At this year’s Australian Open, two highly entertaining males – Nick Kyrgios and Gael Monfils – finished close to the top of the list, both coming in at just under 15 seconds.

Surprisingly, Roger Federer missed out on a top-five finish, but he was there in 2017 at No3 in the list, scoring 16.2 seconds. Overall, the times recorded in 2018 were faster than 2017, but it is not clear whether this was the result of widespread improvement or a difference in methodology.

Among the women, the hastiest server this year was Madison Brengle, who also delivered the slowest ball-speed in the draw. One suspects that both these statistics might be connected with the “Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type I” that Brengle has reported in her right arm, and which she attributes to the after-effects of doping tests carried out by the International Tennis Federation.

In April, Brengle announced that she is suing the ITF for damages, and her lawyer explained that “she no longer is able to serve a tennis ball at or near the same velocity that she has served throughout her 10-year professional career”.

Farther down the list, Magdalena Rybarikova, last year’s Wimbledon semi-finalist, and the up-andcoming Japanese player Naomi Osaka both deserve credit for getting on with it.

Overall, though, female players were found to be slower than males. Their average time between points came in at just under 20 seconds, while the men were almost exactly a second faster at just under 19.