DOES TENNIS NEED BIG RULE CHANGES?

[chrisb]

Baseball is anexample of rules and changes. Wood only bats harder balls are 2 examples pitchers must face 3 batters in relief. Tennis seems to be s slave to its corporate companions. I do not know if there is any thing that can be done about that. I do believe that players use superior equipment have superior training techniques and in some countries are attracting superior athletes. I feel that most fans are not necessarily players. 5 set matches with no breakers in set 5 are stupid. One of the things that made tennis fan friendly in the 70s were the introduction of tiebreakers and the allowing of pros to play the circuit. Today`s world is faster then the 70s so the matches should be too. % hours of tennis only appeals to the die hards not the common fans. 5 set matches sould be only in the late rounds of the slams and all should have breakers at 6 all. Your other tournys should consider no add tennis and a max of 3 sets. Doubles has shortened their matches and it seems to work

 

[Swingmaster]

Anything to stop these ridiculously tall players forging a career on the basis of their serve, despite having a ground game which would barely scrape a top 200 place.

John Isner shamefully ruined one of the greatest sporting tournaments in the world.

Maybe instead of having the service boxes meet each other, just leave a little gap down the middle. Maybe one and half feet wide. That’d make a decent difference. Hopefully enough to retire Isner.

 

[junior74]

No, the rules are what makes tennis perfect.

 

[ChrisG]

Baseball is anexample of rules and changes. Wood only bats harder balls are 2 examples pitchers must face 3 batters in relief. Tennis seems to be s slave to its corporate companions. I do not know if there is any thing that can be done about that. I do believe that players use superior equipment have superior training techniques and in some countries are attracting superior athletes. I feel that most fans are not necessarily players. 5 set matches with no breakers in set 5 are stupid. One of the things that made tennis fan friendly in the 70s were the introduction of tiebreakers and the allowing of pros to play the circuit. Today`s world is faster then the 70s so the matches should be too. % hours of tennis only appeals to the die hards not the common fans. 5 set matches sould be only in the late rounds of the slams and all should have breakers at 6 all. Your other tournys should consider no add tennis and a max of 3 sets. Doubles has shortened their matches and it seems to work

I dont understand your point, u must be one of those non players who have an opinion on tennis. Most US sports last hours and hours of pure uninteresting athletic activity (u talked about baseball, what a joke). As much as I love US football, it’s a real pain to spend 4h watching mostly beer and truck advertising.
And yet there’s people to criticize the length of a tennis match.
A five setter is probably one of the most inspiring athletic event, that combines both technical, physical and mental attributes brought to their max.
Bringing back court diversity should be the only change to the modern tennis

 

[SonnyT]

Tennis and new rules

The best idea is this: Services would be allowed from a level with the shoulder at the highest. That was in use in the very beginning of tennis. The overhead serve was unknown. Back to the roots. Players are much taller nowadays!

Great idea! But they might as well give it a new name: tennistics. And have scoring judges giving the final scores, just like in gymnastics!

 

[Markus Kaila]

Great idea! But they might as well give it a new name: tennistics. And have scoring judges giving the final scores, just like in gymnastics!

What a splendid suggestion. Good luck for it! But anyhow it will need a lot of luck to be accepted...

 

[socallefty]

I’m a tennis fan and I don’t think tennis needs any big rule changes. I like it just the way it is more than at any other point in the past four decades. I have watched the exhibitions that have been televised recently with different scoring systems and don’t like any of them - just like the WTT rules, no-ad rules, Fast-4 rules all seem gimmicky to me. Other tennis players I know are also not clamoring for any rule changes at my club and usually dislike the no-ad and Fast-4 formats. Some like the 10-point match tiebreaker at the rec level instead of a 3rd set, but no one I know seems to want it at the pro level.

Whenever these discussions happen, I get told that shortening tennis matches and having gimmicky scoring rules will attract non-fans and help to attract a younger audience. I’m yet to see any public surveys or market research showing that younger fans and non-fans will flock to tennis if the rules are changed.

The change I am in favor of on the pro tour is to give more money to lower-ranked players (or those eliminated in earlier rounds of tournaments) and less to the stars (or less prize money for winners of later rounds) so that more players can make a good living from tennis and find it easier to have an entourage of coaches and physical trainers accompanying them to level the playing field against the top stars. I think this will lead to more upsets and the birth of new stars. Tennis results and tournament wins on the ATP tour were not so skewed in favor of just a few players till it became such a physical sport in the last fifteen years along with the fact that the top players have coaches, trainers, therapists, nutritionists, family accompanying them on private jets while lower-ranked players fly on commercial flights with one coach accompanying them at best. The WTA tour is less physically grueling and tournaments are won by more players and there are more up-and-coming stars. The top ATP stars make a lot of money from endorsements anyway and so, prize money should go more to lower-ranked players.

 

[chrisb]

I dont understand your point, u must be one of those non players who have an opinion on tennis. Most US sports last hours and hours of pure uninteresting athletic activity (u talked about baseball, what a joke). As much as I love US football, it’s a real pain to spend 4h watching mostly beer and truck advertising.
And yet there’s people to criticize the length of a tennis match.
A five setter is probably one of the most inspiring athletic event, that combines both technical, physical and mental attributes brought to their max.
Bringing back court diversity should be the only change to the modern tennis

No I have played tennis for 67 years and coached and taught it since 1965. IMO 5 hour tennis matches become survival exercises in deference to skill. And baseball does have a redeeming grace the battle between the pitcher and the batter which is presenting the most difficult conflict in sports on every at bat in the opinion of nearly anyone that has played sports. Baseball has continually modified its rules to make a better product tennis has not. If you actually have watched tennis sans slams and 1000 events there tends to be a huge drop-off in attendance in 500 and 250 events unless there is a top level player in the draw. I suggest we should look for ways to make smaller events with lower ranked players more spectator more user friendly

 

[ChrisG]

No I have played tennis for 67 years and coached and taught it since 1965. IMO 5 hour tennis matches become survival exercises in deference to skill. And baseball does have a redeeming grace the battle between the pitcher and the batter which is presenting the most difficult conflict in sports on every at bat in the opinion of nearly anyone that has played sports. Baseball has continually modified its rules to make a better product tennis has not. If you actually have watched tennis sans slams and 1000 events there tends to be a huge drop-off in attendance in 500 and 250 events unless there is a top level player in the draw. I suggest we should look for ways to make smaller events with lower ranked players more spectator more user friendly

It’s really rare to have 5h matches, it only concerns Grand Slams, so it’s barely relevant in terms of quantity. And those events are sold out so it proves that people are interested in that format.
What I would agree is to make regular tournaments more interesting, and not to rely on the big name to make it marketable.
I think money is key, and giving more for the lower ranked is essential. Having more players with financial comfort would elevate the level of competition.
Right now a lot of players can’t reach their potential because of financial struggle. My tennis coach made more as a sparring partner of top 10 ATP and WTA than when he was on tour, and he only spend 2y as it was so expensive.

 

[Markus Kaila]

Maybe instead of having the service boxes meet each other, just leave a little gap down the middle. Maybe one and half feet wide. That’d make a decent difference. Hopefully enough to retire Isner.

Because of your "little gap down the middle" the boxes would be only 0.25 yds (=23 cm) narrower than the present ones (2x4.5 yds). Their width would then be 4.25 yds, or only 5.6% narrower. No significance!

Look at my message #225! This was original, but maybe the width of 4 yds wouldn't be too radical.

 

[Swingmaster]

Because of your "little gap down the middle" the boxes would be only 0.25 yds (=23 cm) narrower than the present ones (2x4.5 yds). Their width would then be 4.25 yds, or only 5.6% narrower. No significance!

Look at my message #225! This was original, but maybe the width of 4 yds wouldn't be too radical.

Yeah, I think that’s way too much middle space. Even one yard would make a pretty big difference, I think. A lot of aces are just out of reach. We don’t want an overabundance of double faults or patty cake serves.

 

[Markus Kaila]

Yeah, I think that’s way too much middle space. Even one yard would make a pretty big difference, I think. A lot of aces are just out of reach. We don’t want an overabundance of double faults or patty cake serves.

Perhaps you don't know this:
The single service will in practice be executed quite similarly as today, but the server will be standing between the one-third marks and the respective service court will be the one-third court exactly opposite. Accordingly, there will be no deuce or advantage courts in a singles match, the service court will remain the same throughout the match, only one third narrower than previously

 

[Swingmaster]

Perhaps you don't know this:
The single service will in practice be executed quite similarly as today, but the server will be standing between the one-third marks and the respective service court will be the one-third court exactly opposite. Accordingly, there will be no deuce or advantage courts in a singles match, the service court will remain the same throughout the match, only one third narrower than previously

Hmm, I see. Well that’s interesting and I’d like to see it on a trial basis, at least. Maybe in an exhibition. I get zero satisfaction out of watching big servers, so I’d go for it. You think three yards is wide enough, though?

 

[Mig1NC]

Perhaps you don't know this:
The single service will in practice be executed quite similarly as today, but the server will be standing between the one-third marks and the respective service court will be the one-third court exactly opposite. Accordingly, there will be no deuce or advantage courts in a singles match, the service court will remain the same throughout the match, only one third narrower than previously

What if you made game point play on the center box? Just a random thought.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Swingmaster]

What if you made game point play on the center box? Just a random thought.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think he’s saying, do ALL the points in the center box, right? But you’re saying only on game point with no ad scoring? That would solve the weirdness of choosing a side for no ad scoring.

 

[Markus Kaila]

I think he’s saying, do ALL the points in the center box, right? But you’re saying only on game point with no ad scoring?

Yes, the outermost boxes is only for doubles tennis. I have thought that the present rules are OK in scoring although in singles there weren't ad or deuce courts in use.