Alcaraz about new automatic shot clock rule: “I have never seen something like that in tennis"

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fafa

Professional
The ATP has been running a rules trial for the last 10 days where the 25-second “shot clock” starts automatically three seconds after the previous point. Players can be warned and eventually docked a point if they do not start serving before the clock expires.

Ask if he felt rushed during the match, Alcaraz said: “Yeah, absolutely.

“I think for the player it is something bad. I finish the point at the net, and I had no time to ask for the balls. I have time just to ask for two balls and no bounces.

“I have never seen something like that in tennis. If you play a long point or finish at the net, you [should] have time just to go for a towel or [do] your routine: ask for, in my case, four balls, I’m concentrating for the next point, just bouncing my bounces, and serve as best as I can.

“Today I felt like I was in a rush all the time. I had no time to bounce and do my routine. Of course it’s something bad for the players.”
 
fafa said:
The ATP has been running a rules trial for the last 10 days where the 25-second “shot clock” starts automatically three seconds after the previous point. Players can be warned and eventually docked a point if they do not start serving before the clock expires.
Click to expand...
This change should have been made a long time ago. It should also start immediately after the previous point ends, not 3 seconds later. This effectively gives players 28 seconds between points. The rule before the shot clock was introduced was 20 seconds between points.

But I suppose this is progress, because some umpires were giving players like Nadal 10 extra seconds, for a total of 35 seconds.

The other change needed is an audible and visible buzzer once the clock expires, and an automatic time violation penalty needs to be assessed if the serve is not hit. Take this out of the umpires' hands entirely, and you'll see how quickly players will fall in line.
 
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Pro match result depends a lot on the players' mind game, surface of the courts, players' style/tactics, the weather or how far the players towels are. If the player doesn't prepare his/her service after a long/intense rally, the next shot's compromised. If the clay/grass/sweat sticks to the player's grip/hand/facial area, the next shot's compromised. If the player has to hurry up from the net area for the next shot too many times, the next shot is compromised. If the wind blows while tossing for serve, the next shot is compromised. If the player chooses not to use towel for it's too far, the next shot's compromised. Don't we want to see the best out of our star players' rather than the worst?
 
fafa said:
The ATP has been running a rules trial for the last 10 days where the 25-second “shot clock” starts automatically three seconds after the previous point. Players can be warned and eventually docked a point if they do not start serving before the clock expires.

Ask if he felt rushed during the match, Alcaraz said: “Yeah, absolutely.

“I think for the player it is something bad. I finish the point at the net, and I had no time to ask for the balls. I have time just to ask for two balls and no bounces.

“I have never seen something like that in tennis. If you play a long point or finish at the net, you [should] have time just to go for a towel or [do] your routine: ask for, in my case, four balls, I’m concentrating for the next point, just bouncing my bounces, and serve as best as I can.

“Today I felt like I was in a rush all the time. I had no time to bounce and do my routine. Of course it’s something bad for the players.”
Click to expand...
Two balls and a couple of bounces sounds perfect. Watching Zverev and others bouncing the ball 17 times before serving is beyond ludicrous.
 
He felt so rushed against the aggressive Draper that after he lost a point to Draper he strategically stalled between points by pretending to be bothered by an insect and took forever to swat that insect around, killed the insect, and put away the insect near the fence before proceeding to his next serve.
 
fafa said:
The ATP has been running a rules trial for the last 10 days where the 25-second “shot clock” starts automatically three seconds after the previous point. Players can be warned and eventually docked a point if they do not start serving before the clock expires.

Ask if he felt rushed during the match, Alcaraz said: “Yeah, absolutely.

“I think for the player it is something bad. I finish the point at the net, and I had no time to ask for the balls. I have time just to ask for two balls and no bounces.

“I have never seen something like that in tennis. If you play a long point or finish at the net, you [should] have time just to go for a towel or [do] your routine: ask for, in my case, four balls, I’m concentrating for the next point, just bouncing my bounces, and serve as best as I can.

“Today I felt like I was in a rush all the time. I had no time to bounce and do my routine. Of course it’s something bad for the players.”
Click to expand...
It’s lomg overdue. I hope they have one for in between 1st and 2nd serves. Another Spaniard used to take up a hidden 10-15 seconds between those.
 
It would be great progress if we could cut out the nonsense ball curation before every point. Just toss the players 2 balls at random each time. We don't need their silly routine of searching for the ball with 2% less fuzz on it, just so they can pretend that ball will magically let them ace the next point.
 
The ATP is cheating, because anyone who finishes a point at the net will be at a HUGE disadvantage.
You'll be penalized for coming to the net because you won't have time to start the next point unless you rush rush rush.
So the ATP wants everyone to play exclusively behind the baseline.
 
TennisBro said:
Pro match result depends a lot on the players' mind game, surface of the courts, players' style/tactics, the weather or how far the players towels are. If the player doesn't prepare his/her service after a long/intense rally, the next shot's compromised. If the clay/grass/sweat sticks to the player's grip/hand/facial area, the next shot's compromised. If the player has to hurry up from the net area for the next shot too many times, the next shot is compromised. If the wind blows while tossing for serve, the next shot is compromised. If the player chooses not to use towel for it's too far, the next shot's compromised. Don't we want to see the best out of our star players' rather than the worst?
Click to expand...
Within the rally all those factors are present. Do you want a time out too?
 
ANTedwardsWON said:
The ATP is cheating, because anyone who finishes a point at the net will be at a HUGE disadvantage.
You'll be penalized for coming to the net because you won't have time to start the next point unless you rush rush rush.
So the ATP wants everyone to play exclusively behind the baseline.
Click to expand...
It shouldn't take that long to walk from the net to the baseline.
 
TennisBro said:
Pro match result depends a lot on the players' mind game, surface of the courts, players' style/tactics, the weather or how far the players towels are. If the player doesn't prepare his/her service after a long/intense rally, the next shot's compromised. If the clay/grass/sweat sticks to the player's grip/hand/facial area, the next shot's compromised. If the player has to hurry up from the net area for the next shot too many times, the next shot is compromised. If the wind blows while tossing for serve, the next shot is compromised. If the player chooses not to use towel for it's too far, the next shot's compromised. Don't we want to see the best out of our star players' rather than the worst?
Click to expand...
Getting tired is part of sports. I mean we want the best of our athletes right. Ok lets give all soccer players a nice 5 minute bathroom break, 60 minutes into a match, lets also give them medical timeouts and stuff. Also in American football if the defense gets to tired and they cant play their best lets give them a nice 5 minute break they deserve it its not right that the offense can just drive on them cause they are tired. Do people even hear themselves in these debates?
 
This issue is just fodder for fan wars. I've never saw anyone say "I love Medvedev, he gets to his spot and serves immediately"
 
Pass750 said:
Two balls and a couple of bounces sounds perfect. Watching Zverev and others bouncing the ball 17 times before serving is beyond ludicrous.
Click to expand...
Then put limits on ball bouncing, no? Or limit the amount of time someone is on the service line.

To rush all court players who’ve finished a point at the net seems absurd. We’ve only just gotten out from two decades of coaches and fans preaching the net game is dead.
 
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Bambooman said:
It shouldn't take that long to walk from the net to the baseline.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but when you consider that pretty much everyone towels off after every point now and where the towel boxes/racks are usually located it does present a bit more of an issue for players often finishing at net. Do the players really need to towel off all the time is another question. Gets pretty stupid when it's like an ace or serve +1 and they go towel off for about a whole second. What's the point?

I do think something along this line is actually needed though. Discretion should probably be used in extremely hot conditions, but otherwise it's a bit inconsistent when the chair umps are kind of arbitrarily deciding when to start the clocks each time.
 
Bambooman said:
It shouldn't take that long to walk from the net to the baseline.
Click to expand...
A tennis court is 78 feet, so half a tennis court is 39 feet, so walking from the net to the baseline could take about 20 seconds.
So you won't even have time to use the towel, and what it the ball kid fumbles a ball, or if you fumble a ball... and no time to bounce the ball either.

GAS said:
Anyone else doesn't have this guy on ignore but just skips to next post when you see the bold capitals? 8-B
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My posts are easier to read than anybody's actually.
The bold letters are for clarity, and in your case..... jealousy.

Subway Tennis said:
Agree totally. I don’t know why they are so obsessed with this given the negative impact it is going to have on the players. And it is actually going to lessen the suspense in big moments, too, by rushing the server.
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Exactly, the suspense grows with every second which adds to fan enthusiasm, and as others have said the recovery time between points is necessary for highest quality performance.
For the rule-making committee to miss or dismiss these two factors, is absolutely tragic and utterly disrespectful to the players and fans.
Disgraceful, and surely these rule-makers are people who don't play tennis or don't watch tennis... otherwise they have sinister intentions which I don't believe, so got to be just non-tennis people.
 
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GAS said:
This issue is just fodder for fan wars. I've never saw anyone say "I love Medvedev, he gets to his spot and serves immediately"
Click to expand...
I never said it out loud but I actually do enjoy that he does that. It‘s obviously not the reason to pick a favourite player but that‘s indeed something I like when watching those players. Also something I liked about Kyrgios, so even moreso for big servers. Zverev for example started a while back to take more time for his serve, I really find it hard to watch if he‘s bouncing the ball 10 seconds, just to see a lot of one second points.
 
GAS said:
Anyone else doesn't have this guy on ignore but just skips to next post when you see the bold capitals? 8-B
Click to expand...
Haha, I actually was fine with doing exactly that till today - finally he made it to that list
 
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insideguy said:
Getting tired is part of sports. I mean we want the best of our athletes right. Ok lets give all soccer players a nice 5 minute bathroom break, 60 minutes into a match, lets also give them medical timeouts and stuff. Also in American football if the defense gets to tired and they cant play their best lets give them a nice 5 minute break they deserve it its not right that the offense can just drive on them cause they are tired. Do people even hear themselves in these debates?
Click to expand...
Apples and oranges when it comes to tennis and soccer/football comparisons.
 
As a fan who attends pro tournaments regularly, the time taken between serves by modern players has never detracted from my enjoyment of the entertainment they provide. I don’t know why the ATP is so hung up on reducing the time between points - did some management consultant firm tell them that this is the way to attract young fans?

If making the players hurry between serves makes their game even 5% worse without adequate recovery after long rallies, then we are all worse off in entertainment value. The best baseline players like Nadal and Djokovic take the longest time of between serves as they recover carefully after playing high intensity points. Maybe the ATP should pause to think if they are killing the golden goose when they make the best players hurry and possibly worsen their caliber of play.
 
socallefty said:
As a fan who attends pro tournaments regularly, the time taken between serves by modern players has never detracted from my enjoyment of the entertainment they provide. I don’t know why the ATP is so hung up on reducing the time between points - did some management consultant firm tell them that this is the way to attract young fans?

If making the players hurry between serves makes their game even 5% worse without adequate recovery after long rallies, then we are all worse off in entertainment value. The best baseline players like Nadal and Djokovic take the longest time of between serves as they recover carefully after playing high intensity points. Maybe the ATP should pause to think if they are killing the golden goose when they make the best players hurry and possibly worsen their caliber of play.
Click to expand...
Agree totally. I don’t know why they are so obsessed with this given the negative impact it is going to have on the players. And it is actually going to lessen the suspense in big moments, too, by rushing the server.
 
Subway Tennis said:
Agree totally. I don’t know why they are so obsessed with this given the negative impact it is going to have on the players. And it is actually going to lessen the suspense in big moments, too, by rushing the server.
Click to expand...
One of the biggest issues the powers are gonna have is the audience, the fans @socallefty has mentioned. Imagine the player serving tossing the ball in the wind and hears some fan(s) screaming something at the same time. Clock expires and the umpire is obligated to act. What do you think will happen then?
 
junior74 said:
Before the shot clock was introduced, there were certain players who took almost a minute between points sometimes.

The shot clock is the only actual evolution we've seen in our evolving sport for a long time.
Click to expand...

Yes, that and the toilet break/ SMS regulations
 
ANTedwardsWON said:
A tennis court is 78 feet, so half a tennis court is 39 feet, so walking from the net to the baseline could take about 20 seconds.
So you won't even have time to use the towel, and what it the ball kid fumbles a ball, or if you fumble a ball... and no time to bounce the ball either.


My posts are easier to read than anybody's actually.
The bold letters are for clarity, and in your case..... jealousy.


Exactly, the suspense grows with every second which adds to fan enthusiasm, and as others have said the recovery time between points is necessary for highest quality performance.
For the rule-making committee to miss or dismiss these two factors, is absolutely tragic and utterly disrespectful to the players and fans.
Disgraceful, and surely these rule-makers are people who don't play tennis or don't watch tennis... otherwise they have sinister intentions which I don't believe, so got to be just non-tennis people.
Click to expand...
If it takes 20 seconds you don't belong on a pro tennis court. These guys can cover almost 200 meters in that time if they hurry.
 
MeatTornado said:
It would be great progress if we could cut out the nonsense ball curation before every point. Just toss the players 2 balls at random each time. We don't need their silly routine of searching for the ball with 2% less fuzz on it, just so they can pretend that ball will magically let them ace the next point.
Click to expand...
Serena only held one ball at a time and she would play the one tossed to her without even looking at it. She was pretty good.
 
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