Good Changes

H

Hard Court

Professional
Tennis has long been the sport of change. It seems like things are always changing; Surfaces, equipment, scoring, computer system, officiating, the tournaments on the tour etc. most of time it seems like it's change for the sake of changes. Not really an improvement, just different.
We often talk about the changes that we don't like. but what have been the good changes? Open tennis seems like the obvious one. But what else?
 
Wimbledon starting a week later from 2015, and so with 3 weeks in-between RG and Wimbledon instead of 2, was a very positive and long overdue change.

When it comes to women’s tennis, there are obvious ones, such as the creation of the Virginia Slims circuit in September 1970 (far more important and significant for female players than the start of the open era in April 1968), and of the WTA in June 1973 (likewise).

Beyond that, I’d say that moving the US Open women’s final to a prime-time slot from 2001, was an overwhelmingly positive change. Similarly moving the Australian Open women’s final back to a Saturday evening slot from 2009, was also a welcome change IMO.
 
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The sitdown rule, which changed on 1 January 2000:

The old rule from 1974-1999 (and at the 1973 US Open) was:
1. Players always sat down after the first game of a set, and after every odd numbered game of the set thereafter
2. Players only sat down at the end of a set if the set ended 6-1, 6-3 or 7-6 (also at 1974-1978 Wimbledon a tiebreak score would be a 9-8 set, as tiebreaks were at 8-8)
3. If a set ended 6-0, 6-2, 6-4 or 7-5, the players would remain standing, and then play the first game of the next set before sitting down
4. The changeovers were all the same length.
5. Under this old rule, umpires would often say at the end of 6-0, 6-2, 6-4 and 7-5 sets "Please remain in your seats, ladies and gentlemen. This is not a changeover".

The new rule from 1 January 2000 onwards:
1. Players never sit down after the first game of a set, but they do change ends, and they remain standing if they have a quick drink after the first game of a set
2. Players sit down after every odd numbered game of a set thereafter, i.e. after games 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13
3. Players always sit down at the end of a set, no matter what the scoreline of that set was
4. The changeover after the end of a set is longer than a changeover during a set
 
Gizo said:
The Davis Cup changing formats and moving to a straight forward 16 team World Group in 1981. Previously the format of the competition was very complicated and difficult to follow, as well as long and grueling, including ties in-between RG and Wimbledon.
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The Davis Cup introducing tiebreaks in 1989. They took a long time to do it compared to the tour.
 
Wimbledon has gone through several changes in its ideal scheduling:

Up to and including 1981, it used to be (weather permitting):
Monday and Tuesday: First Round
Wednesday and Thursday: Second Round
Friday and Saturday: Third Round
Monday (aka Manic Monday): Fourth Round
Tuesday: Women's Quarter Finals
Wednesday: Men's Quarter Finals
Thursday: Semi Finals
Friday: Women's Final
Saturday: Men's Final

From 1982 to 2021, it used to be (weather permitting):
Monday and Tuesday: First Round
Wednesday and Thursday: Second Round
Friday and Saturday: Third Round
Monday (aka Manic Monday): Fourth Round
Tuesday: Women's Quarter Finals
Wednesday: Men's Quarter Finals
Thursday: Women's Semi Finals
Friday: Men's Semi Finals
Saturday: Women's Final
Sunday: Men's Final

From 2022 to the Present Day, it's:
Monday and Tuesday: First Round
Wednesday and Thursday: Second Round
Friday and Saturday: Third Round
Sunday and Monday: Fourth Round
Tuesday and Wednesday: Quarter Finals
Thursday: Women's Semi Finals
Friday: Men's Semi Finals
Saturday: Women's Final
Sunday: Men's Final

At Wimbledon, up to and including 1981, the women's final was on Friday and the men's final was on Saturday. They basically avoided playing on Sundays before 1982, although the 1972 men's final between Smith and Nastase was played on Sunday due to the Saturday being completely washed out. 1982 was the first Wimbledon where the women's final (between Navratilova and Evert) was deliberately scheduled for a Saturday, and the men's final (between Connors and McEnroe) was deliberately scheduled for a Sunday.

Prior to the 2022 change, Wimbledon played on the Middle Sunday in 1991, 1997, 2004 and 2016, due to bad weather in the first week. In 1991, they had been so far behind that there were even some first round matches incomplete after the middle Saturday. In 2007, the referee Andrew Jarrett controversially decided not to have play on the Middle Sunday, even though the weather forecast for Sunday was sun and clear skies while Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday all had scattered showers forecast.
 
No one has to be "fast". There's always been an expectation of reasonable time taken from point to point, and the specific amount settled upon is absolutely enough for a professional athlete to both catch his breath and gather himself.

For one, I love Rafa. I think the people who hate him solely based on his quirks seize upon a tiny thing in the overall makeup. But being forced to adjust his hair two less times, or God forbid not reach into his ass crack before time expires, could not be a serious detriment to his ability to produce his tennis. If there had been any doubt, the multiple Slams he won post-"shot clock" proved that anyone at this level could function within this time window.
 
For the women, I really like the WTA tier designations for tournaments, established in 1990 and in place up to and including 2008. It did feel a bit weird from 1990-1994 though, when Kraft became the primary tour sponsor, but there were still Virginia Slims (the previous overall tour sponsor) events around, culminating in the Virginia Slims Championships in Madison Square Gardens.

But the tier system was simple and easy to follow. Plus crucially, for a while there were no mandatory events and from 2006-2008 only Miami was mandatory (though still 1 mandatory event too many IMO). That meant that players had a lot of flexibility to pick which tournaments to enter, and it crucially meant that a far greater number of separate events throughout the year had at least 1 or multiple top 10 players in them. It felt that there were frequently WTA tier 2 events with big name players participating.

Sadly, the WTA revamped their roadmap from 2009, replacing the tier system with a new one which had confusing names, and then progressively added in more mandatory events, to mimic the set-up on the men's side with masters series events.
 
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bigbadboaz said:
No one has to be "fast". There's always been an expectation of reasonable time taken from point to point, and the specific amount settled upon is absolutely enough for a professional athlete to both catch his breath and gather himself.

For one, I love Rafa. I think the people who hate him solely based on his quirks seize upon a tiny thing in the overall makeup. But being forced to adjust his hair two less times, or God forbid not reach into his ass crack before time expires, could not be a serious detriment to his ability to produce his tennis. If there had been any doubt, the multiple Slams he won post-"shot clock" proved that anyone at this level could function within this time window.
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You can not be serious!

(sorry couldn't help myself :-D )
 
I actually had Djokovic in mind as much as Nadal with the timing rule. Djokovic was especially irritating since he would only cheat the clock during pressure points or after long points so there was no cadence across his service games. Nadal was more conspicuous with his OCD routine but I don't care about that stuff independent of the time-wasting.

I want to watch tennis, not time-wasting service routines, and my time is precious. Frankly if your time isn't precious, you're either a kid or too wealthy for your own good.
 
Exactly. There is no professional sport without an audience, and anyone not already committed to the game is going to tune out if things don't move quickly enough to sustain interest. A respectable pace is not to inconvenience the players; it's to the benefit of the game itself.

Djokovic is the ****ing WORST with the ball-bouncing. Just as with Rafa: being forced to cut the seventeen bounces to a mere seven is NOT going to destroy his mental focus. These are some of the best practitioners of a craft to ever live.

Indulging an excessive habit like that also invites ridicule: another thing that invites people on the fence about the game to simply tune out.
 
bigbadboaz said:
Exactly. There is no professional sport without an audience, and anyone not already committed to the game is going to tune out if things don't move quickly enough to sustain interest. A respectable pace is not to inconvenience the players; it's to the benefit of the game itself.

Djokovic is the ****ing WORST with the ball-bouncing. Just as with Rafa: being forced to cut the seventeen bounces to a mere seven is NOT going to destroy his mental focus. These are some of the best practitioners of a craft to ever live.

Indulging an excessive habit like that also invites ridicule: another thing that invites people on the fence about the game to simply tune out.
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Those personal habits have the net effect of *controlling the tempo* of the match, to the unfair benefit of the practitioner.

No me gusta
 
Mustard said:
Wimbledon has gone through several changes in its ideal scheduling:

Up to and including 1981, it used to be (weather permitting):
Monday and Tuesday: First Round
Wednesday and Thursday: Second Round
Friday and Saturday: Third Round
Monday (aka Manic Monday): Fourth Round
Tuesday: Women's Quarter Finals
Wednesday: Men's Quarter Finals
Thursday: Semi Finals
Friday: Women's Final
Saturday: Men's Final

From 1982 to 2021, it used to be (weather permitting):
Monday and Tuesday: First Round
Wednesday and Thursday: Second Round
Friday and Saturday: Third Round
Monday (aka Manic Monday): Fourth Round
Tuesday: Women's Quarter Finals
Wednesday: Men's Quarter Finals
Thursday: Women's Semi Finals
Friday: Men's Semi Finals
Saturday: Women's Final
Sunday: Men's Final

From 2022 to the Present Day, it's:
Monday and Tuesday: First Round
Wednesday and Thursday: Second Round
Friday and Saturday: Third Round
Sunday and Monday: Fourth Round
Tuesday and Wednesday: Quarter Finals
Thursday: Women's Semi Finals
Friday: Men's Semi Finals
Saturday: Women's Final
Sunday: Men's Final

At Wimbledon, up to and including 1981, the women's final was on Friday and the men's final was on Saturday. They basically avoided playing on Sundays before 1982, although the 1972 men's final between Smith and Nastase was played on Sunday due to the Saturday being completely washed out. 1982 was the first Wimbledon where the women's final (between Navratilova and Evert) was deliberately scheduled for a Saturday, and the men's final (between Connors and McEnroe) was deliberately scheduled for a Sunday.

Prior to the 2022 change, Wimbledon played on the Middle Sunday in 1991, 1997, 2004 and 2016, due to bad weather in the first week. In 1991, they had been so far behind that there were even some first round matches incomplete after the middle Saturday. In 2007, the referee Andrew Jarrett controversially decided not to have play on the Middle Sunday, even though the weather forecast for Sunday was sun and clear skies while Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday all had scattered showers forecast.
Click to expand...
 
Mustard said:
Wimbledon has gone through several changes in its ideal scheduling:

Up to and including 1981, it used to be (weather permitting):
Monday and Tuesday: First Round
Wednesday and Thursday: Second Round
Friday and Saturday: Third Round
Monday (aka Manic Monday): Fourth Round
Tuesday: Women's Quarter Finals
Wednesday: Men's Quarter Finals
Thursday: Semi Finals
Friday: Women's Final
Saturday: Men's Final

From 1982 to 2021, it used to be (weather permitting):
Monday and Tuesday: First Round
Wednesday and Thursday: Second Round
Friday and Saturday: Third Round
Monday (aka Manic Monday): Fourth Round
Tuesday: Women's Quarter Finals
Wednesday: Men's Quarter Finals
Thursday: Women's Semi Finals
Friday: Men's Semi Finals
Saturday: Women's Final
Sunday: Men's Final

From 2022 to the Present Day, it's:
Monday and Tuesday: First Round
Wednesday and Thursday: Second Round
Friday and Saturday: Third Round
Sunday and Monday: Fourth Round
Tuesday and Wednesday: Quarter Finals
Thursday: Women's Semi Finals
Friday: Men's Semi Finals
Saturday: Women's Final
Sunday: Men's Final

At Wimbledon, up to and including 1981, the women's final was on Friday and the men's final was on Saturday. They basically avoided playing on Sundays before 1982, although the 1972 men's final between Smith and Nastase was played on Sunday due to the Saturday being completely washed out. 1982 was the first Wimbledon where the women's final (between Navratilova and Evert) was deliberately scheduled for a Saturday, and the men's final (between Connors and McEnroe) was deliberately scheduled for a Sunday.

Prior to the 2022 change, Wimbledon played on the Middle Sunday in 1991, 1997, 2004 and 2016, due to bad weather in the first week. In 1991, they had been so far behind that there were even some first round matches incomplete after the middle Saturday. In 2007, the referee Andrew Jarrett controversially decided not to have play on the Middle Sunday, even though the weather forecast for Sunday was sun and clear skies while Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday all had scattered showers forecast.
Click to expand...
Those were certainly good changes. for many people the weekends are the only times to watch. Having the women's final moved to Saturday was huge. Having the men's and women's finals live was also a big deal. Perhaps underrated is having the 4th round matches on Sunday, instead of having it a non-playing day.
 
Hard Court said:
Those were certainly good changes. for many people the weekends are the only times to watch. Having the women's final moved to Saturday was huge. Having the men's and women's finals live was also a big deal. Perhaps underrated is having the 4th round matches on Sunday, instead of having it a non-playing day.
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Also since 2022 where they play half the men's quarter finals and half the women's quarter finals on the Tuesday, and the other half on the Wednesday (like the other majors), instead of having Tuesday as exclusively women and Wednesday as exclusively men.
 
The live scoreboard being displayed on screen when matches have been televised / broadcast, was definitely a welcome and positive change.
 
Hard Court said:
Not sure when the US Open started having matches televised in prime time during the week but that was a big change in the right direction.
Click to expand...
In the US, that was 1984, with USA network. HBO was their first foray into cable, but that was weekday daytime coverage. That was 1982 and 83.
 
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