Tennis is a dirty sport, time to clean it up

[ratherlosethanpush]

Why not trial this

Tennis seems to have many issues with players trying to gain an advantage or disadvantage their opponent by using rules arguably for reasons not designed for.

Time to make them pay a 2 game penalty for all their legal breaks.

Toilet / change breaks
Shorten breaks between change of ends by say 10 secs and give a 5 or 6 min break at end of set break for advertisers and for players to change or toilet break.

Go over the time 2 game penalty, if more than 2 mins over the time 4 game penalty...if u want one mid set 2 game penalty.

Medical time outs
Take as many as you like, 2 game charge per timeout. Current time limits apply.

Receiver not ready when server is.
Let's have a return clock. U have 8 secs to be ready, u can only go for a towel when the server does. One maybe 2 exceptions for fetching a towel during a set in hot and humid conditions where heat rule is in play.

Hit them with games not fines, if they need to use the rule pay the games, if u don't your probably not going to use it to try to flip momentum, yoy may at 4 0 Down.

Get unsporting behaviour out of tennis.

Where there's a will there's a way.

 

[Rafa4LifeEver]

Get unsporting behaviour out of tennis.

Hey you can't just ask for Novak Djokovic's removal from sport.

 

[big ted]

i think the umpires aren't enforcing the existing rules enough. maybe they should be fined

 

[Jonesy]

A commission of 10 tennis fans should decide the punishments in real time, for the umpire, the players and the crowd. Punishments will go from electric shocks to eternal banishments to the Bermuda triangle.

 

[TTMR]

Let's be real. Tennis is probably the 'cleanest' sport around, in terms of sportsmanship, obvious cheating, etc. Both at the pro and the rec level. How many other sports can people be trusted to call their own games?

 

[Rosstour]

Hey you can't just ask for Novak Djokovic's removal from sport.

Oh look, another Rafa fan with a broken mirror.

Both Nadal and Djok employ tactical gamesmanship, but Nadal is far far better at it and ppl love him for it.

 

[socallefty]

What is wrong with tennis the way it is played today? As someone who goes to a couple of tournaments every year and watches a lot on TV, I have no problem with the length of matches and in particular the Bestof3 kind. I don’t want to be in a stadium and watch a match outcome being decided by 2-game penalties when the length of whatever break was taken doesn’t bother me in the slightest.

What a weird thread. Reading the title, I thought it would be about tournament organizers not caring about PEDs which is more of a legitimate issue making the sport dirty. Or lower rated players being made to fly around the world all year long without guaranteeing any minimum income which seems morally wrong when the top players are making tens of millions - there is no sport without young players coming up.

 

[GabeT]

How little must one know about tennis (or sports in general) to think these are “unsporting” behaviors?

 

[10nispro]

Why not trial this

Tennis seems to have many issues with players trying to gain an advantage or disadvantage their opponent by using rules arguably for reasons not designed for.

Time to make them pay a 2 game penalty for all their legal breaks.

Toilet / change breaks
Shorten breaks between change of ends by say 10 secs and give a 5 or 6 min break at end of set break for advertisers and for players to change or toilet break.

Go over the time 2 game penalty, if more than 2 mins over the time 4 game penalty...if u want one mid set 2 game penalty.

Medical time outs
Take as many as you like, 2 game charge per timeout. Current time limits apply.

Receiver not ready when server is.
Let's have a return clock. U have 8 secs to be ready, u can only go for a towel when the server does. One maybe 2 exceptions for fetching a towel during a set in hot and humid conditions where heat rule is in play.

Hit them with games not fines, if they need to use the rule pay the games, if u don't your probably not going to use it to try to flip momentum, yoy may at 4 0 Down.

Get unsporting behaviour out of tennis.

Where there's a will there's a way.

There is one thing which is "rules" and the other thing is gamesmanship. One can't write down everything as rules, against the good essence of the game. Unfortunately, some players in the recent two decades have made the environment too hostile using every tactic to win the game and also using all the written rules to their advantage. Young fans who started watching tennis post 2000 seem to have a different mindset and many believe that "as long as you are playing by the rules, it's ok. Be it toilet break or MTO". It never used to that way. Those of my age here would easily recall to incidences of under hand serve. Michal Chang and ?Hingis, both were grilled and roasted, and both could never mentally came back fully. And just last year, andy Murray got away with the underhand serve.

In fact situation is much worse than this now. Some players have played being a victim card so well that it has now become difficult both for the commentators and umpires to stand for what is right. Recall the commentator in the USO final between serena and osaka, and she said that the umpire should have looked the other way and not given her a warning for being coached.

It's the media and the spectators who drive the "values" of the game. Need to find a way to somehow instilling all those values back in the game. And doing it by making the rules more stringent, is surely not the way in my opinion

 

[fafa]

There should be rules when it comes to grunting. It's been out of control lately and three's nothing no one can do about them. They're louder than ever and players nowadays start grunting when the ball is already on the other side of the net to distract the opponent.

 

[Rosstour]

There is one thing which is "rules" and the other thing is gamesmanship. One can't write down everything as rules, against the good essence of the game. Unfortunately, some players in the recent two decades have made the environment too hostile using every tactic to win the game and also using all the written rules to their advantage. Young fans who started watching tennis post 2000 seem to have a different mindset and many believe that "as long as you are playing by the rules, it's ok. Be it toilet break or MTO". It never used to that way. Those of my age here would easily recall to incidences of under hand serve. Michal Chang and ?Hingis, both were grilled and roasted, and both could never mentally came back fully. And just last year, andy Murray got away with the underhand serve.

In fact situation is much worse than this now. Some players have played being a victim card so well that it has now become difficult both for the commentators and umpires to stand for what is right. Recall the commentator in the USO final between serena and osaka, and she said that the umpire should have looked the other way and not given her a warning for being coached.

It's the media and the spectators who drive the "values" of the game. Need to find a way to somehow instilling all those values back in the game. And doing it by making the rules more stringent, is surely not the way in my opinion

There should be rules when it comes to grunting. It's been out of control lately and three's nothing no one can do about them. They're louder than ever and players nowadays start grunting when the ball is already on the other side of the net to distract the opponent.

The grunting is ridiculous--and when Robin Haase grunted back to a loud player as a way of saying "back at you", the umpire intervened and took a point from him. So the authorities have spoken...grunting is fine, no matter how ridiculous it is, if you pretend it's genuine.

And it's not even grunting. Federer grunts. Most players these days moan, and it sounds effeminate and ridiculous if you ask me.

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

Hey you can't just ask for Novak Djokovic's removal from sport.

absolutely.
it wouldn't be enough: you'd also need to perform a nadalectomy.

 

[Rafa4LifeEver]

Oh look, another Rafa fan with a broken mirror.

Both Nadal and Djok employ tactical gamesmanship, but Nadal is far far better at it and ppl love him for it.

K

 

[Rafa4LifeEver]

absolutely.
it wouldn't be enough: you'd also need to perform a nadalectomy.

When will you start rooting for Rafa?

 

[10nispro]

The grunting is ridiculous--and when Robin Haase grunted back to a loud player as a way of saying "back at you", the umpire intervened and took a point from him. So the authorities have spoken...grunting is fine, no matter how ridiculous it is, if you pretend it's genuine.

And it's not even grunting. Federer grunts. Most players these days moan, and it sounds effeminate and ridiculous if you ask me.

I think, I am not sure, players can raise an objection to grunting during the match but they are afraid to be the bad guy

 

[10nispro]

There should be rules when it comes to grunting. It's been out of control lately and three's nothing no one can do about them. They're louder than ever and players nowadays start grunting when the ball is already on the other side of the net to distract the opponent.

Crowd and spectators can be more vocal about it. That would help

 

[canta_Brian]

What is wrong with tennis the way it is played today? As someone who goes to a couple of tournaments every year and watches a lot on TV, I have no problem with the length of matches and in particular the Bestof3 kind. I don’t want to be in a stadium and watch a match outcome being decided by 2-game penalties when the length of whatever break was taken doesn’t bother me in the slightest.

What a weird thread. Reading the title, I thought it would be about tournament organizers not caring about PEDs which is more of a legitimate issue making the sport dirty. Or lower rated players being made to fly around the world all year long without guaranteeing any minimum income which seems morally wrong when the top players are making tens of millions - there is no sport without young players coming up.

That last sentence. And yet you claim Djokovic is goat

 

[crimson87]

Serena is out so once Nadal and Djokovic retire the sport will be cleansed.
I would add a return line to avoid players returning from the stands.

 

[Technology Ruined Tennis]

A more feasible option would be to re-word the rules to give the server near-absolute control regarding pace of play.

If the server wants to serve 1 second after the previous point ended, with the crowd still yelling, let them. No more "hands up". Unless the sever goes to the towel, the returner has to stay in position. If the returner has a legitimate injury, they can leave the court and forfeit the return game. No more attempts at icing the underdog before they serve for the set/match.

doesn't hold breath

 

[socallefty]

That last sentence. And yet you claim Djokovic is goat

I don’t see the connection. He is the best player by far that I’ve ever seen play tennis and is a coach’s dream in terms of playing like the textbook (except for the overhead). Your job as a pro is to beat whoever shows up to play you in tournaments and that’s what he does very well. I think his level of tennis is very high even now.

Meanwhile, the organizers of the tour could think more of the long-term future of the sport and make it easier for young players to make a living and keep the sport healthy in the lower levels. Many other pro sports have a minimum salary for contracts, but tennis treats players as independent contractors and gives a lot of money to the top players and in my opinion not enough to others. Young guys can’t travel with coaches, trainers etc. and it is hard for them to compete for many years with more successful older guys traveling with full entourages.

 

[merwy]

Let's be real. Tennis is probably the 'cleanest' sport around, in terms of sportsmanship, obvious cheating, etc. Both at the pro and the rec level. How many other sports can people be trusted to call their own games?

That's the aspect I hate most about the recreational level though. Honestly, just put an umpire in that chair and stop young players from getting bullied into giving up points that they've won.

 

[Jonesy]

That's the aspect I hate most about the recreational level though. Honestly, just put an umpire in that chair and stop young players from getting bullied into giving up points that they've won.

Isn't there a cheap technology you put on the net that scans the court and warns if the ball is in or out? That should solve the need of an umpire at rec level.

 

[optic yellow]

The grunting is ridiculous--and when Robin Haase grunted back to a loud player as a way of saying "back at you", the umpire intervened and took a point from him. So the authorities have spoken...grunting is fine, no matter how ridiculous it is, if you pretend it's genuine.

And it's not even grunting. Federer grunts. Most players these days moan, and it sounds effeminate and ridiculous if you ask me.

The grunting or moaning or shrieking or whatever you want to call it absolutely needs to be removed, it detracts so heavily from the viewing experience.

 

[WeekendTennisHack]

Hey you can't just ask for Novak Djokovic's removal from sport.

You guys really don't see the irony of this?

 

[canta_Brian]

I don’t see the connection. He is the best player by far that I’ve ever seen play tennis and is a coach’s dream in terms of playing like the textbook (except for the overhead). Your job as a pro is to beat whoever shows up to play you in tournaments and that’s what he does very well. I think his level of tennis is very high even now.

Meanwhile, the organizers of the tour could think more of the long-term future of the sport and make it easier for young players to make a living and keep the sport healthy in the lower levels. Many other pro sports have a minimum salary for contracts, but tennis treats players as independent contractors and gives a lot of money to the top players and in my opinion not enough to others. Young guys can’t travel with coaches, trainers etc. and it is hard for them to compete for many years with more successful older guys traveling with full entourages.

I didn’t think Djokovic fans were big on “eye test”.

It would be interesting to know if the difference in spend on teams has diverged hugely between top pros and up and coming players over the years. I know a couple of players who were try to make it in the early 90s and were sleeping in tents on campsites in Europe whilst trying to play challengers, so I don’t think the financial restrictions on success are necessarily new.

 

[ChaelAZ]

We should be chopping of hands for violating anything on court. OBEY or come back with a nub! Same with speeders and those who abuse carpool lanes. And any politician that lies.

ESPECIALLY rec players foot faults. Chop'em up!

Let's get more accountability in this world.