kragster
Hall of Fame
A lot of folks blame the umpires for not enforcing the 20 second rule. But there is a reason this rule is very hard to enforce. And the reason is that in this era of baseline rallies, even the non-time wasting players occasionally go past 20 seconds. Unfortunately the 20 second rule is not based on "average of 20 seconds" but based on "no instance should exceed 20 seconds". Therein lies the problem! What that means is that even a player who plays fast (like Blake) will occasionally cross 20 seconds (after a long baseline rally). So lets say Blake is playing Nadal. The umpire has 3 choices:
1) Follow the rule extremely strictly which will penalize Nadal say 50 times but it will also end up penalizing Blake 10 times.
2) Don't penalize anyone
3) Use judgment and subjectivity to forgive Blake (since his average is low), but penalize Nadal a few times
Option 3 WILL NEVER HAPPEN because it is almost impossible to get someone to enforce follow a subjective rule. The umpire would simply not feel comfortable applying such a rule. Nadal could easily complain to the umpire that "Hey you penalized me one game ago but on the last point Blake took more than 20 seconds and he wasn't penalized". A rule is a rule and subjectivity undermines its strength. You can't half follow a rule, it creates too much controversy.
Option 1 WILL NEVER HAPPEN because it would be too disruptive and viewers would get pissed. It would slow down the game more than speed it!
Which leaves the poor umpire with Option 2, which is what happens currently
The only way to get the rule to work is to change it to 30 seconds ( or at least 25). Players who are time wasters (Rafa, Djoker) already exceed 30 seconds ON AVERAGE! Which means that by shifting the time limit to 30 seconds, you create a rule that can be strictly enforced because it still catches the notorious timewasters but avoids penalizing non time-wasters like Blake who I don't think ever exceed 30 seconds. The umpires would feel much more comfortable enforcing a rule that does not affect 90% of the tour and only penalizes instances of extreme time wasting.
PS - For the record Im a rafa djoker fan so I obviously have nothing against these guys. I think a 30 second rule would still allow them to play a very high level of baseline tennis while cutting down on those excessive moments of OCD time wasting.
1) Follow the rule extremely strictly which will penalize Nadal say 50 times but it will also end up penalizing Blake 10 times.
2) Don't penalize anyone
3) Use judgment and subjectivity to forgive Blake (since his average is low), but penalize Nadal a few times
Option 3 WILL NEVER HAPPEN because it is almost impossible to get someone to enforce follow a subjective rule. The umpire would simply not feel comfortable applying such a rule. Nadal could easily complain to the umpire that "Hey you penalized me one game ago but on the last point Blake took more than 20 seconds and he wasn't penalized". A rule is a rule and subjectivity undermines its strength. You can't half follow a rule, it creates too much controversy.
Option 1 WILL NEVER HAPPEN because it would be too disruptive and viewers would get pissed. It would slow down the game more than speed it!
Which leaves the poor umpire with Option 2, which is what happens currently
The only way to get the rule to work is to change it to 30 seconds ( or at least 25). Players who are time wasters (Rafa, Djoker) already exceed 30 seconds ON AVERAGE! Which means that by shifting the time limit to 30 seconds, you create a rule that can be strictly enforced because it still catches the notorious timewasters but avoids penalizing non time-wasters like Blake who I don't think ever exceed 30 seconds. The umpires would feel much more comfortable enforcing a rule that does not affect 90% of the tour and only penalizes instances of extreme time wasting.
PS - For the record Im a rafa djoker fan so I obviously have nothing against these guys. I think a 30 second rule would still allow them to play a very high level of baseline tennis while cutting down on those excessive moments of OCD time wasting.
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