You're allowed to make 5 (realistic) changes in tennis - what are they?

3. No sitting till the end of the set. You may STAND and have a drink when changing sides, like they did back in the day. If they could do it, so can you, with your fancy racquets, and strings, and such.
4. No towels on court. That's why God invented "wrist sponges". Wear 'em!

Fantastic!
 
ATP only. Could care less what WTA does as long as they quit sponging money from the men.

Ones already mentioned that I agree with:

1. Eliminate or penalize heavily MTO. Man up or quit.
2. All forms of timewasting eliminated. Tennis should be a relentless grueling slog of a duel, not a series of sitting and sipping garden party moments and grody OCD exhibitions punctuated by occasional hitting.

My own additions:
3. Bring back carpet and in general diversify surfaces further (novel clays, etc.)
4. Allow all tournaments to specify equipment as well as surface, so that we can have for example throwback wood/grass events. (I'd love to see this at Hall of Fame for instance, would create tons of buzz) Both 3 and 4 are about restoring the wider challenge of conditions that makes tennis so interesting and different.
5. In line with that, allow all tournaments to specify their own crowd rules. If Wimbledon wants to be prim and proper so be it, but I want to see events that are raucous pits of nonstop crowd noise. Kyrgios-vs-crowd at Miami is great theater, that should be only a taste of what's in store for players at certain events. If college players can make free throws in front of the Cameron Crazies, tennis players should be able to serve a ball. Again, man the **** up you prima donnas.

In short, the gladiatorial element should be emphasized in every way.
 

Guitario

Rookie
I'd like to add one to my OP that I've seen crop up recently, and something should be changed (unless there is a protocol and I've missed it).

Say a player ranked in the top 100 is playing a challenger the week before a 500 or Masters. Often the qualifiers start on the Saturday, which is the day on or before the Challenger final. If said player is in the final, then he can't then take part in the qualifiers, so misses out on a chance to play a big tournament.

Anyone winning a Challenger but isn't ranked high enough to normally gain direct entry (and thus would normally go through the qualifiers) should get a wild card entry into the main draw as a reward.

In other words, I think there should be a smoother transition between the two levels to help the players ranked between say, 75 and 100, who seem to be stuck in limbo between both tours. Guessing whether it's better off playing a qualifier vs a challenger can be a minefield.
 

BTURNER

Legend
The only improvement on the tie-breaker for a 3rd set (And thank you for that, pro-tennis. You were bound to do something right, eventually.), would be a pro-set match. Doubles is fun to play, but not watch. Not like the old days when the best players played doubles and knew how to volley.

What do you think would help it, BT? One serve, instead of two? I can't think of anyway to really improve it other than better players. Wonder what it would be like using the singles court for doubles? Too "crowded"?
lets do something about those 'best players'. By definition, in a large event, the top players will be seen as a commodity as a doubles partner.

I think you'd have to put an obligation on a player seeking to be seeded that attends a 'right' to be seeded in singles at high tier or major tournaments . If you want to be protected in the draw of a tournament, you have to give up some of your autonomy with respect to doubles/ mixed. Make accepting a seeded position in a tournament draw contingent on supporting the tournament's doubles or its mixed. It becomes a player decision - with a risk and a benefit to weigh.

Its a take-it or leave it deal. you don't get to stay self-centered, and stay protected by the tournament.
 
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caulcano

Hall of Fame
Reduce playing time by:
1) Enforcing the time limit rule.
2) Limit towelling between points or only allow it after a game has finished.
3) Ban the server from choosing between 2 out of X balls (you're get what you're given).
4) Change the time between changeovers. Slowly increase the time after a set has been completed e.g 1 min changeovers in the first set, 1.5 mins in the second, 2 mins in the third etc.
 

JMR

Hall of Fame
Lastly a WTF that ROTATES SURFACES during the tournament so that each round robin match is on a different surface and the higher seed selects his semifinal and final surface!

Aside from the fact that this would convert the WTF into an exhibition-like stunt event, it would make scheduling and ticketing very difficult, if not impossible. For example, if you want a fixed venue for the final, that will have to come with a preselected court surface. You can't tear up a court and install a different surface overnight. So if you demand surface flexibility for the final, then you'll have to make multiple, contingent venues available, each with a show court with a different surface.
 

bitcoinoperated

Hall of Fame
BO3 up until the QFs at GS events (yes srsly)
Masters 1000 events all have BO5 finals
Umpire can review hawkeye to make overrules
More prize money to players that exit in the earlier rounds
Enforce time limits between points and toilet breaks (no showers and kit changes ffs)
 

TheMusicLover

G.O.A.T.
I'm most of all in the 'don't fix it if it ain't broke'-bracket, but okay I'll play:

- Bring back Bo5 in Master's finals. The thought of never getting to see any of the beauty of say, the Rome 2006 final, anymore, is still making me :(.
- ENFORCE those f****** RULES when it comes to the annoying time wasting!
- Get rid of byes. Top players receive enough benefits already because of their seedings.
- No MTO's allowed before an opponent's serve, otherwise: forfeit the upcoming game.
- Bring back carpet.
- WTA, especially: get rid of that stupid on-court coaching. You're no longer in Kindergarten, just *try* and think out a solution by yourselves, ladies.
- WTA, again: screaming = obstruction. Penalties for obsessive, obnoxious decibels produced, please.
- Last but not least: BAN the towels. It appears allowed to even towel off after just having produced an ace nowadays. W.T.F.! :mad:

Reduce playing time by:
4) Change the time between changeovers. Slowly increase the time after a set has been completed e.g 1 min changeovers in the first set, 1.5 mins in the second, 2 mins in the third etc.
Unfortunately, those lengthy changeovers are mostly due to television bobo's finding it necessary to send all of us watchers to bathroom each changeover because of their repetitive, boring advertisements. In other words: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ rulez. No, I don't like it. :mad:
 
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Vanilla Slice

Professional
Aside from the fact that this would convert the WTF into an exhibition-like stunt event, it would make scheduling and ticketing very difficult, if not impossible. For example, if you want a fixed venue for the final, that will have to come with a preselected court surface. You can't tear up a court and install a different surface overnight. So if you demand surface flexibility for the final, then you'll have to make multiple, contingent venues available, each with a show court with a different surface.

Fair point about the event being less official than some would like. However, I do think the current location of the WTF in London is redundant as Wimbledon is also held near there. If a new spot opened up where three show courts could be built then this event could take place.

Now, i do enjoy watching the current WTF, but it always being on indoor hard while claiming it's a tournament to see who is the best is a little weird. If not my idea, what about a WTF that rotates from hard to clay to grass each year to keep things interesting? It's already a round robin which is why many see it as an exhibition already.
 

jussumman

Hall of Fame
Some of my proposed changes are a bit extreme, but idc
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1 Abolish the let rule on serves. Same reason OP gives.

2 Use artificial grass surface for Wimbledon, optimized for fastest surface similar to indoor carpet (but fake grass). Real grass gets ruined by middle of the tournament and I think only used to keep the prestige of the tournament. Obviously when the Brits originally played tennis they played on lawns because they had no better options. We changed from wooden racquets and gut strings to synthetic ones, same concept.

3 WTA Reduce the height of the net by 6 in. Women are about half a foot shorter than men. The height was designed for average sized male player in mind and it's ridiculous they don't adjust accordingly for women's stature, would make a big difference and make women's tennis better I theorize. Right now when I see a diminutive 5'2 female player double fault SMH

4 WTA Play best of 5 in slams or take 2/3 Prize money.

5 Davis Cup Make it every 2 years. Gives it more relevance. This has been proposed by some former pro players already.
 

wangs78

Legend
1. Strictly enforce time violations (just have an automated shot clock like in basketball)
2. One less week of clay, one more week of grass
3. Make the ATP final best-of-5
4. Run the women's tour, including Slams, completely separate from the men's tour, so that prize money can be determined by distinct revenue streams for each tour - this is the most fair way to allocate prize money as it is tied to ticket and sponsor revenue.
4a. 4 probably won't happen, so then to make things a bit more fair, have the women play best-of-5 at the Slams
5. Develop a spec requirement for racquets and strings - polys aren't going anywhere but I think it makes sense, now that we know how technology can change the game, to codify it so that change is regulated going forward
6. Extend the offseason by 2 weeks to give players a bit more time to recuperate.
7. For players caught using PED's not only should they be suspended (Like Sharapova was), but they should also be stripped of titles won and prize money earned for the previous [12] months.
 

Adi1987

Rookie
Make all tennis matches for men and women to be best of 3 sets.

Permanent ban for sharadopa.

Bar any tennis player to be inducted in tennis hall of fame if there have been banned eg coketina hingis , shutupova.

Combine all tennis tournaments for men and women.

Reintroduce surfaces like carpet ,. Green clay wood. Rebound ace.

Increase prize money at lower tier tournaments.

Publically flog the current WTA CEO for being an incompetent moron
 

Guitario

Rookie
Fair point about the event being less official than some would like. However, I do think the current location of the WTF in London is redundant as Wimbledon is also held near there. If a new spot opened up where three show courts could be built then this event could take place.

Now, i do enjoy watching the current WTF, but it always being on indoor hard while claiming it's a tournament to see who is the best is a little weird. If not my idea, what about a WTF that rotates from hard to clay to grass each year to keep things interesting? It's already a round robin which is why many see it as an exhibition already.

What has Wimbledon have to do with the WTF? The events are almost 6 months apart anyway.

I think it makes more sense the WTF is an indoor hard event. Firstly, it follows the indoor season.. that's the obvious one. Secondly, it's a neutral venue which reduces the likelihood of it giving any player an unfair advantage - similarly why a football cup final is held at a neutral stadium so neither team has a home advantage.

It would be weird, and massively unfair if the best player and world number 1 hated grass or clay, but was forced to take part in a WTF where he'd potentially lose all 3 matches on that surface..

Hard courts have always been the middle ground between the other surfaces

7. For players caught using PED's not only should they be suspended (Like Sharapova was), but they should also be stripped of titles won and prize money earned for the previous [12] months.

That wouldn't and couldn't be enforced. Nobody would able to prove X title was won with the aid of a banned substance, let alone IF they were taking something from that far back.

Fair enough, if the sample was taken shortly before the event in question, then as in athletics, they can strip you of the title. But if the sample was afterwards.. then unless the half life of the drug was fairly long, good luck with proving that in court.
 
C

Cenarius

Guest
For starters:

1.Tie-break in decisive sets in all slams and all rounds.
2.No coaching during matches(WTA)
3.Equal play between both tours only in non grand slam tourneys.
4.Improve Hawk-eye to the point chair and lines won't be needed anymore.
5.Make Montecarlo mandatory instead of Madrid.
 
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JMR

Hall of Fame
Now, i do enjoy watching the current WTF, but it always being on indoor hard while claiming it's a tournament to see who is the best is a little weird.

No single tournament, including the WTF, is intended to identify the "best" tennis player all by itself. Each one is just a vehicle for awarding a title of greater or lesser significance. The WTF is toward the "greater" end of the spectrum, but it's still only a single tournament. Its champion doesn't necessarily have to be the best player on every surface.
 

captainbryce

Hall of Fame
1) Strictly enforced 25 second shot clock at all tournaments
2) All ATP Masters 1000 and women's Grand Slams finals are best of 5 sets
3) Speed up Wimbledon (to pre-2002 speed)
4) Upgrade Hamburg to a grass Masters 1000/Downgrade Madrid to 500
5) Convert Miami to a either Har-Tru or even that pretty blue clay!

x-c0c2624a-3b86-49fe-9bf1-3712ca74778a.jpg
 

Bartelby

Bionic Poster
Almost all the changes proposed here and elsewhere would completely destroy tennis.

If you want another set of rules, then invent another format or formats outside and alongside of the traditional one.

It is as simple as that, if you can find such a format.
 
Almost all the changes proposed here and elsewhere would completely destroy tennis.

If you want another set of rules, then invent another format or formats outside and alongside of the traditional one.

It is as simple as that, if you can find such a format.

The fact you are against rule changes confirms more than anything that they are excellent and needed.
 

Duncan Donuts

Professional
Move Hamburg back to Spring

Reduce WTA pay because its unequal now

Queens Club is Masters 1000

Smacking the ball out of the arena is an automatic point penalty
 

boredone3456

G.O.A.T.
For all of you proposing that the WTA play best of 5 at the majors, do you really think that is doable and that the majors could still wrap up in 2 weeks time? The US Open as it is has had to play a monday final because of weather in the past, and rain at Wimbledon makes some players play 4 or 5 days in a row as it is some years. The only way it would work is if you added more courts to all the major stadiums to make sure you can still play the same number of matches per day (because best of 5 for the women will make their matches longer, which will mean more time needed for each match each day), or add another week to all the majors to make sure you have enough time. I'm not saying I'm against, I just don't think its really feasible to have it happen given the way the tour is structured for both the men and the women to have them do it the whole tournament...maybe from the QF onwards its doable but beyond that...
 

QuadCam

Professional
Some great suggestions in this thread.... Now, if the powers that be could read them and make changes.

Here's my list:

1) serve shot clock.... And enforce it !
2) if you need to towel off, you have to have have a towel on you.... Kind of like the little towels WRs and QBs use in the NFL. It's nasty to make children be sweaty towel servants.
3) Play all service lets! This will help to make service breaks occur more regularly.
4) Give players a 2 minute time out per set. Can be called at any time. They can use it for whatever... Help change momentum, talk to their coach, get quick medical attention or quick massage, etc. No additional MTOs
5)enforce voice hindrance rules. If a player's grunt extends so long that the ball has traveled across the net to the opposing player's side of the court, end the point and award it to the opposing player.
 

Bartelby

Bionic Poster
You might be like a lot here who seem to want to 'americanise' tennis in a way incompatible with its roots.

Shot clocks and time outs - we don't need more basketball in the world!

The fact you are against rule changes confirms more than anything that they are excellent and needed.
 

amorys90

Professional
1) More clay court events (including Har-Tru for Miami and possibly US open swing), don't take away South America's clay
2) More grass court events, have a grass masters
3) Fewer hard court events in general, natural surfaces are easier on the joints and promote diversity
4) Make Hamburg a clay Masters again, make Madrid a Challenger event
5) Shorten season by two weeks
 

Dark_Angel85

Semi-Pro
Hmmm... It's really hard to come up with these changes because one half I'm thinking of the changes AS a player's POV and the other half is improving my experience as a spectator/TV spectator

1. Best of 3 for all matches at all tournaments.

2. Equal prize money for all categories and also less disparity in prize money distribution.

3. No more ranking system, no more seedings. Same treatment for all players, and it will just be about winning tournaments.

4. I want 1 tournament which is truly open and has no gender difference. Main draw singles and main draw doubles. Any gender can join.

5. Video review can be requested to aide decision making by court officials. Just like in basketball or American football. It can even be like Hawkeye where you get 3 incorrect challenges to reverse a decision made by an umpire based on matters of fact.

This was more challenging than I thought it would, some things I want to change such as to speed things up on tv but I might not enjoy as a player myself.
 
1

1HBH-DownTheLine

Guest
rule change: change the top of the net to a constant steady laser beam. If you hit it, the ball disintegrates and you lose the point. same for on serve and any other shot.
 
Shot clocks and time outs - we don't need more basketball in the world!

The vast majority of comments have called for ELIMINATION of the time-outs which are currently allowed.
But thanks for taking the opportunity to rehash your crass anti-Americanism and perpetual irrelevancy.
 

every7

Hall of Fame
Rule 1 - Return Players MUST play at server's pace. It's supposed to be a rule already, but this new version would be strictly enforced. This means no holding up of the racquet and holting players during their service routine and delivery.

Rule 2 - In double, the partners in each team are not allowed to talk to each other between points.

Change 1 - LESS LOW-LEVEL grasscourt tournaments, to make room for another ATP500 grass tournament and a grass masters

Change 2 - MUCH SMALLER doubles draws in all tournaments. Direct entry in Doubles only for players with a singles ranking inside the top 50. No more doubles specialists sucking all the resources from tournaments.

Change 3 - Remove Paris Master and create a new M1000 in Los Angeles at the same time of the year.
 

wendyg

New User
1. Ban on-court coaching (looking at you, WTA);
2. Revert to pre-2000 ranking system, where averaging points meant losses counted and quality points measured the strength of match wins;
3. Return to 16 seeds at the Slams, Indian Wells, and Miami;
4. Women to play best of five at the majors (with more of these tournaments getting roofs, the weather isn't as big an issue as formerly);
5. Open all data, current and historical, and provide an API so fans can crunch it any way they want.

wg
 

70後

Hall of Fame
All juniors between say 7-14 should start out learning the game playing on slowest clay, with wood racquets and non spinny strings specially designed for young people. I want to see young players, pre 15 or so, building a firm, solid base in their tennis book, whether or not they turn pro, instead of trying to "overclock" a young talent as soon as it is spotted and send him or her shooting up the ranks as soon, as fast and as high as possible. At that early stage of development, just like middle school, it is important to take it slow, do one thing at a time, don't rush, learn and try different shots and tactics in order to construct, to build up rallies. Full spectrum tennis.
 

70後

Hall of Fame
Move the Wuhan WTA P5 back to Toray which is where it belongs. It is theirs. It was a Stacey idea that went so well, considering that Li Na, the most important player in the world according to Stacey, never played her own home tournament, and all the $$$ growth never materialised.

Upgrade Hong Kong Open from International to Premier.

Toray and Hong Kong have the tennis fans anyway.
 

70後

Hall of Fame
I've been asking for a long time : All MTO's and BRB's put on a meter. One point deducted every 30 seconds, until either the player returns to court or is defaulted by meter.

I keep saying, injuries or illness are part of the running COSTS of doing business as a professional athlete to be MANAGED. They are not like, for example, the Seles assassination.

If you manage your own health poorly, it is unfair to in effect pass that cost to your opponents.
 

reaper

Legend
Just 3 changes for me:

1) abolish the let
2) Server must hit their ball toss
3) If a player takes an MTO before or during their opponents serve, that game is conceded to the server.
 

PMChambers

Hall of Fame
Almost all the changes proposed here and elsewhere would completely destroy tennis.

If you want another set of rules, then invent another format or formats outside and alongside of the traditional one.

It is as simple as that, if you can find such a format.

Most the requested changes have at sometime been been official. They didn't destroy tennis, however, they where changed because they didn't help it. Seems all the young gun TTW posters want to turn the clock back to before they where born. The grass wasn't green back then Wimbledon was dust.
 

BGod

G.O.A.T.
1. Copy Olympic format for Masters Tournaments (Bo5 Final and no 3rd set Tiebreak beforehand)
2. Limit racquet head-size to 95sq in for 500+ level tournaments
3. Bring back 16 Seeds for Slams as oppose to 32
4. Extend grass court season by 2 weeks
5. Downgrade Canadian Masters and upgrade Halle
 

TennisD

Professional
Oh my god the number of people who get salty about MTOs and "timewasting" is insane. Like, truly, certifiably nuts. Get over it folks.
 

70後

Hall of Fame
Davis Cup/Fed Cup should be held once every 100 years.

(Hopman Cup should continue unchanged.)
 
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