ATP to discuss time-violation rule with players

Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) chief Brad Drewett is meeting players to address a new rule aimed at speeding up the game that has drawn criticism from professionals on the men’s tour.

This year, the ATP are enforcing a regulation that gives players 25 seconds to serve the ball or face a warning and then the loss of a point for a second violation.

The new rule has sparked complaints from players who have fallen foul of the law.

Grand slams have had a time limit of 20 seconds for a number of years but the rule is rarely enforced and top players like Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic regularly flout it with drawn-out preparations to serves.

The new rule was endorsed by the ATP player’s council last month but stricter enforcement at warm-up tournaments ahead of this week’s Australian Open has raised concerns from players about a crackdown at the year’s first grand slam where five-set matches in extreme heat often feature.

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley indicated players would be afforded some leeway at Melbourne Park, where officials would use “good sense, good judgement” in enforcing the 20-second rule.

“The Australian Open as a grand slam will not be doing anything different to what we’ve done in the past, we will still enforce the 20-second rule,” he told reporters.

Last year’s final between winner Djokovic and Nadal took five hours and 53 minutes, a record in grand slam finals, with both players taking breaks of up to 30 seconds between points.