New article: Tennis cursed by the boredom of slow play

Tennis cursed by the boredom of slow play
Click to expand...

The slow play problem is not the time "wasting" with ball bounces, "dead time between points", or the other crap which triggers certain people about Nadal, Djokovic, et al. The blame has accurately and rightfully centered on the overall slowing down of the game to dreary baseline-fests, where for two generations, net-phobic players waited for someone to blink...or fall asleep. The Bollettieri influence over tennis--men's tennis in particular--was to snuff out the undeniably exciting, fast serve and volley game thanks to the ridiculous accusation that tennis in the 90s was made "uninteresting" by so-called "servebots", among them the type of player who followed a powerful serve with a race to the net to--oh the horror--finish off the point (nevermind point construction and S&V battles that did not end in a second).

Well, the game was altered in favor of the sleep-inducing baseliner, and its remained that type of game ever since, with the majority of its two generation of practitioners about as exciting as watching cracks form in mud. This is what organizations desired, and they have it to embrace. Apparently forever, so they only have themselves to blame, as the current and future male players have bought into that unimaginably boring baseline game, and will never even consider another way--a historically more exciting way of playing men's tennis.
 
THUNDERVOLLEY said:
The slow play problem is not the time "wasting" with ball bounces, "dead time between points", or the other crap which triggers certain people about Nadal, Djokovic, et al. The blame has accurately and rightfully centered on the overall slowing down of the game to dreary baseline-fests, where for two generations, net-phobic players waited for someone to blink...or fall asleep. The Bollettieri influence over tennis--men's tennis in particular--was to snuff out the undeniably exciting, fast serve and volley game thanks to the ridiculous accusation that tennis in the 90s was made "uninteresting" by so-called "servebots", among them the type of player who followed a powerful serve with a race to the net to--oh the horror--finish off the point (nevermind point construction and S&V battles that did not end in a second).

Well, the game was altered in favor of the sleep-inducing baseliner, and its remained that type of game ever since, with the majority of its two generation of practitioners about as exciting as watching cracks form in mud. This is what organizations desired, and they have it to embrace. Apparently forever, so they only have themselves to blame, as the current and future male players have bought into that unimaginably boring baseline game, and will never even consider another way--a historically more exciting way of playing men's tennis.
Click to expand...
This is true. But the reason for the change is to try to attract the casual fan. The "hardcore" fan will stay, even if the game turns into a coma inducing snooze fest (you're still watching, aren't you?). But the casual fan moves his attention (and his money) to something else the moment he's "bored".

If you ever attend professional tennis events (in America anyway), it's astounding how stupid the majority of fans are (and what they are entertained by). Watching these fans in person answered all my questions as to why the game is the way it is now.
 
weakera said:
Djokovic is the king of gamesmanship. he always takes the most time in pressure situations, by far. Part of why he is a charisma vacuum and why the Wimbledon crowd erupted in thunderous applause when he received a time violation warning in the finals tiebreak.
Click to expand...
At least with Nadal you know exactly when he’s actually going to serve - Novak takes a ludicrous number of bounces & then goes straight into his action, leaving his opponent guessing.
 
THUNDERVOLLEY said:
The slow play problem is not the time "wasting" with ball bounces, "dead time between points", or the other crap which triggers certain people about Nadal, Djokovic, et al. The blame has accurately and rightfully centered on the overall slowing down of the game to dreary baseline-fests, where for two generations, net-phobic players waited for someone to blink...or fall asleep. The Bollettieri influence over tennis--men's tennis in particular--was to snuff out the undeniably exciting, fast serve and volley game thanks to the ridiculous accusation that tennis in the 90s was made "uninteresting" by so-called "servebots", among them the type of player who followed a powerful serve with a race to the net to--oh the horror--finish off the point (nevermind point construction and S&V battles that did not end in a second).

Well, the game was altered in favor of the sleep-inducing baseliner, and its remained that type of game ever since, with the majority of its two generation of practitioners about as exciting as watching cracks form in mud. This is what organizations desired, and they have it to embrace. Apparently forever, so they only have themselves to blame, as the current and future male players have bought into that unimaginably boring baseline game, and will never even consider another way--a historically more exciting way of playing men's tennis.
Click to expand...
As per sports like baseball & cricket tennis equipment should have been legislated a long time ago. At the very least they needed to ban poly strings, over 90” head sizes & keep the conditions i.e. courts & balls fast; they should have also seriously considered forcing the men at least to play one-handed backhands exclusively, although faster, lower bouncing courts would’ve perhaps encouraged this to some degree. Too late now though, and instead of the elegance of Pete & Roger we’re left with Novak & Med et al.
 
Mustard said:
Humans need the toilet at times. Tennis is hard physically, mentally and skillfully. People who watch hard, entertaining rallies and then expect the next point to start immediately just don't get it.
Click to expand...
Yesss, the era of instant gratification does not include sport. Watch golf or a game of cricket and ease into the mode of slowing down and the magic of preparation and presentation. Laying the table for amazing things to come...
 
Even though I don't like it, I must admit Nadal and Djokovic's taking time works toward their advantage. During a crucial part of the match, they say, 'Slow down, why be in such a hurry.'

Now if they adhere to the clock, there shouldn't be complaints. With the clock, matches are taking longer. Why? Because it speeds up Nadal & Djokovic, but it slows down the field, who realize they have more time to serve.
 
BeatlesFan said:

Tennis cursed by the boredom of slow play​

The server steps up to the baseline and then … bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce…It is boring waiting for the bouncing for stop.

The worst bouncing offenders include Marin Cilic and serial grand-slam winner Novak Djokovic, who has been known to bounce the ball 17 times at moments of high stress. During last month’s otherwise magnificent Wimbledon final, Djokovic’s interminable service preparations were interrupted more than once by cries of “Gerronwithit” from the stands.

Still, it is hard to escape the conclusion that the shot-clock has backfired. The idea was to take subjectivity out of the process, and address claims of favouritism surrounding big-name players such as Rafael Nadal (another man with never-ending pre-serve routines, including eyebrow-smoothing and butt-picking). By making the 25-second countdown visible, the system was supposed to end the perception – bluntly expressed on court in 2014 by Dmitry Tursunov – that “Rafa is eight seconds over and no one ever gives him a warning.

“It’s often the big names who are pushing the envelope to the limit”. Whereas, if you go back a few decades, 1970s giants such as Bjorn Borg and Arthur Ashe barely paused for breath. A video of their 1973 US Open meeting shows that the young Borg took an average of eight seconds to collect the ball from the ball-boy, turn around, bounce it once, and toss it up. Ashe was a comparative laggard, averaging 10 seconds between points.

According to Henman, “The sport was very different in those days. There was more serve-volleying, and the physicality just wasn’t on the same level, so we can’t expect people to play that quickly today.”
Click to expand...

Totally agree. The endless ball bouncing is super annoying like some nba players who need to meditate for 10 secs before shooting a FT.
Remember when the chair umpire said over the speaker to Cilic and asked, "What are you waiting for?" That was a classic moment.

Not being a pro on the tour I don't know about that decades ago serve and volley players had a less physical game than baseliners. Not every match with two baseliners are hitting 10+ ball rallies. While serving and sprinting to the net, stretching for a 2nd or 3rd volley, then a lob and then you're back on the baseline in a rally seems more physically grueling than hitting 5-7 balls in a rally.

Nadal's eyebrow smoothing. That's funny.
 
THUNDERVOLLEY said:
The slow play problem is not the time "wasting" with ball bounces, "dead time between points", or the other crap which triggers certain people about Nadal, Djokovic, et al. The blame has accurately and rightfully centered on the overall slowing down of the game to dreary baseline-fests, where for two generations, net-phobic players waited for someone to blink...or fall asleep. The Bollettieri influence over tennis--men's tennis in particular--was to snuff out the undeniably exciting, fast serve and volley game thanks to the ridiculous accusation that tennis in the 90s was made "uninteresting" by so-called "servebots", among them the type of player who followed a powerful serve with a race to the net to--oh the horror--finish off the point (nevermind point construction and S&V battles that did not end in a second).

Well, the game was altered in favor of the sleep-inducing baseliner, and its remained that type of game ever since, with the majority of its two generation of practitioners about as exciting as watching cracks form in mud. This is what organizations desired, and they have it to embrace. Apparently forever, so they only have themselves to blame, as the current and future male players have bought into that unimaginably boring baseline game, and will never even consider another way--a historically more exciting way of playing men's tennis.
Click to expand...
Nah. That other style is rarely very exciting. It almost always looks staggering and off balance as someone lumbers to the net and then does that almost faceplant half volley.
 
tennis3 said:
This is true. But the reason for the change is to try to attract the casual fan. The "hardcore" fan will stay, even if the game turns into a coma inducing snooze fest (you're still watching, aren't you?). But the casual fan moves his attention (and his money) to something else the moment he's "bored".

If you ever attend professional tennis events (in America anyway), it's astounding how stupid the majority of fans are (and what they are entertained by). Watching these fans in person answered all my questions as to why the game is the way it is now.
Click to expand...
The casual fan likes variety. Hence Alcaraz' rise in popularity vs. boring plain jane same pace same 2hbh players who look scarily uncomfortable at the net.
Casual fan TV viewership in tennis has declined to the degree than even a dedicated Tennis channel will show a boring sport with a paddle and wiffle ball instead of actual tennis.
Did anyone ever think you'd see in a USO final with a top 3 player, Medvedev, look extremely uncomfortable with easy volley putaways? He hit a few like a 4.0 rec. player at the net and he lost those points.
 
Last edited:
So Djokovic played two back to back 3 hour matches at the YEC? I wonder if that has ever happened in the history of the YEC. I can't recall any 3 hour RR matches in the 80s/90s/or 2000s (and there were more than a few matches with players who were not serve bots back then like Chang, Muster, Moya, Corretja, Wilander, Nystrom, Mecir etc in those decades), but I'm guessing there were probably a few. But back to back matches? Maybe Murray or Simon?

I really doubt "longer rallies" has anything to do with it(and there were 35 total aces in the Sinner match, 28 in the Rune match, plus numerous unreturnables by all 3 players - that reduces the average length of rallies quite a bit). So the main reason both matches went over 3 hours is likely time wasting in between points. I wonder if the shot clock has actually slowed the game down(since players are now aware of it, and use all the time they have, as opposed to just going by feel in the amount of time they use). I'd love to see stats on how much time players take after hitting an ace:)

edit - apparently Murray played two 3 hour matches in 2016. 3:21 vs Nishikori in RR, and 3:38(!) vs Raonic in semis.
 
Last edited:
The main problem is the serve.

With faults, double faults, caught ball tosses, lets and foot faults, not to mention players bouncing the ball 400x, it takes forever to get the ball in play.

They need to start playing the lets and also ban caught ball tosses. If you cant control your toss its a fault. Stupid Rublev was catching his toss over and over today and its an indoor court! Annoying to play against that as well.

Just doin those two things would speed the game up considerably. Also ball bounces should be limited to 5. If someone needs more than that they are insane.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

T
Examples of 'Low Bouncing + Slow' courts and 'High Bouncing + Fast' courts
Replies
4
Views
2K
jg153040
J
Raining hopes
The tennis tour should test every kind of skill
Replies
36
Views
3K
Born_to_slice
Born_to_slice
Mayonnaise
Comparing the surfaces of the clay surfaces: Paris, Rome, Monte Carlo, Madrid
Replies
25
Views
11K
DSH
DSH
P
Should players be able to challenge automatic line calling with super slow mo video replay judged by the umpire?
Replies
9
Views
2K
PleaseBeNicer
P
Born_to_slice
Slow-mo video of Djokovic hitting the line judge
2 3
Replies
116
Views
11K
Federev
Federev
Back
Top