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Missed first serves. This also makes tennis boring to play.
It's painful to watch a match when players have around a 50% first serve percentage unless they're hitting aces or serving/volleying. This is a big problem with many WTA tennis matches especially, probably because the players tend to be shorter so it's harder to keep from hitting the tape when serving aggressively. But, it also depends upon the player. Players with long rituals between serves can be painful to watch, too.
I definitely disagree with the suggestion to play let balls, because they're sloppy and random. But, I've been trying to think of a solution for the "endless serving" boredom that comes with watching tennis matches.
I can't watch a tennis match without a DVR sometimes so I can fast-forward through the endless faults and time between serves.
Some possibilities:
1. No fault serving, type A. Players get one serve per point, as with ping pong.
If this rule is implemented I would also modify the let rule so that let balls that are out would give the player another serve. Otherwise, it's too harsh to have the ball hit the net and just barely go out—and have that be a fault.
The problem with one serve per point tennis is that it's a terrible handicap for serve/volley players as well as for players with big, yet erratic, first serves. It provides a big advantage to people who return serve well. I don't like the idea of making serve/volley even less viable.
2. No fault serving, type B. Players get unlimited serves but would have to serve their second, third, and so forth serves immediately after getting the ball (no dallying). This is a really bad idea that could make matches even more boring to watch. It could make more players turn into serve/volley players, though. :shock:
3. Players would get a certain number of first serves per game, like 4. This would hurt serve/volley players, although not as much as the first idea. Also, having up to four or five faults on first serves would still be boring.
4. This one is really odd... Players would get three serves, but would have to immediately serve the second and third serves. The third serve would have to be underhand. This would be interesting because it would be very hard to win a point on the third serve, so it could make the game more exciting because if a player managed to win a point that way it would be unexpected.
This idea seems interesting. Even though there would be up to three serves, if players have to immediately (as soon as they get the ball) serve the second and third serves, it could actually make the match progress more smoothly and be more interesting.
It was high drama when Chang won with an underhand serve. While having a third underhand service for every player in every match won't be that dramatic, it could still be interesting. It would add variation to the serving style of players as well as the way points are played.
5. Have a first serve percentage threshold and if the player doesn't mean a certain minimum (per set?), the player would be docked somehow. This would provide the player with the incentive to serve more consistently. Or, it could just stress the player more, leading to more faults. One way to dock the player would be to only give that player one serve per point in a set if their first serve percentage is awful in the previous set.
I'll think of more later.
Please don't pop in here to ridicule these ideas. They're just brainstorming and are not supposed to be amazingly fantastic.
It's painful to watch a match when players have around a 50% first serve percentage unless they're hitting aces or serving/volleying. This is a big problem with many WTA tennis matches especially, probably because the players tend to be shorter so it's harder to keep from hitting the tape when serving aggressively. But, it also depends upon the player. Players with long rituals between serves can be painful to watch, too.
I definitely disagree with the suggestion to play let balls, because they're sloppy and random. But, I've been trying to think of a solution for the "endless serving" boredom that comes with watching tennis matches.
I can't watch a tennis match without a DVR sometimes so I can fast-forward through the endless faults and time between serves.
Some possibilities:
1. No fault serving, type A. Players get one serve per point, as with ping pong.
If this rule is implemented I would also modify the let rule so that let balls that are out would give the player another serve. Otherwise, it's too harsh to have the ball hit the net and just barely go out—and have that be a fault.
The problem with one serve per point tennis is that it's a terrible handicap for serve/volley players as well as for players with big, yet erratic, first serves. It provides a big advantage to people who return serve well. I don't like the idea of making serve/volley even less viable.
2. No fault serving, type B. Players get unlimited serves but would have to serve their second, third, and so forth serves immediately after getting the ball (no dallying). This is a really bad idea that could make matches even more boring to watch. It could make more players turn into serve/volley players, though. :shock:
3. Players would get a certain number of first serves per game, like 4. This would hurt serve/volley players, although not as much as the first idea. Also, having up to four or five faults on first serves would still be boring.
4. This one is really odd... Players would get three serves, but would have to immediately serve the second and third serves. The third serve would have to be underhand. This would be interesting because it would be very hard to win a point on the third serve, so it could make the game more exciting because if a player managed to win a point that way it would be unexpected.
This idea seems interesting. Even though there would be up to three serves, if players have to immediately (as soon as they get the ball) serve the second and third serves, it could actually make the match progress more smoothly and be more interesting.
It was high drama when Chang won with an underhand serve. While having a third underhand service for every player in every match won't be that dramatic, it could still be interesting. It would add variation to the serving style of players as well as the way points are played.
5. Have a first serve percentage threshold and if the player doesn't mean a certain minimum (per set?), the player would be docked somehow. This would provide the player with the incentive to serve more consistently. Or, it could just stress the player more, leading to more faults. One way to dock the player would be to only give that player one serve per point in a set if their first serve percentage is awful in the previous set.
I'll think of more later.
Please don't pop in here to ridicule these ideas. They're just brainstorming and are not supposed to be amazingly fantastic.
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