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ATP to tinker
with doubles rules The
New York Times reported Friday September 4, that the Association of Tennis
Professionals (ATP) will change some rules in the doubles game later this
month, including reducing sets to five games each. According
to the ATP, the point is to attract more singles players to doubles and to
make matches faster and more exciting. Which
made the NYT wonder, are there rules in singles tennis that should be changed
to make those matches more exciting and more appealing to spectators? In
response, Bud Collins, a columnist for The Boston Globe and a commentator for
ESPN and the Tennis Channel, as well as the author of ‘The Bud Collins
History of Tennis’, is quoted as saying: “Tennis needs a disarmament
conference to deal with the overpowering of the game by high-tech rackets
and, lately, high-tech strings that impart ungodly spin. “Ideally,
representatives of the male and female professional organizations (the ATP
World Tour and WTA Tour), as well as the International Tennis Federation,
should sit down at the table and hash all this out. “What
professional tennis needs to do is regulate the size of rackets to be no
longer than 27 inches and no wider than 9 inches. And it should outlaw the
new strings. This will give the volleyers a chance. |
“On
the subject of overpowering, it also applies to female voices, and the
screeching more often associated with mythological Harpies. “The
WTA ought to move to cut out the noise pollution of the screamers, whose
agonized sounds go beyond grunting, and spoil many matches for fans. “The
WTA should remind its members that Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Chris
Evert, Steffi Graf and Justine Henin were great players without resorting to
sound effects.” Neil
Harman, the tennis correspondent for The Times of London, who writes
the Wimbledon Annual, has covered more than 70 grand slam tournaments and has
been both chairman of the Lawn Tennis Writers’ Association of Great Britain
and president of the International
Tennis Writers’ Association comments: “Too
much time is wasted in tennis treating injuries that are often no more than a
slight cramp. There should be much more vigorous enforcement of the rules
concerning players’ injuries — both its flagrant abuse as well as that of the
toilet break, which is often little more than a device to break an opponent’s
concentration. “Let
us nip these transgressions in the bud. How many times do you see a player
who has just lost a set, either call for the trainer or pop off to the john?” “If the tennis authorities were bold enough to declare a war on unnecessary stoppages to the |
flow
of the game — and they are not exactly the boldest of folks — the better off
the sport would be. That is the way we were taught to play, until the fitter,
stronger, more talented player prevails. That is the way it should be.” Stephen
Tignor is the executive editor of Tennis Magazine. He also writes a blog, Concrete Elbow, at
Tennis.com. He
feels that while the no-coaching rule, which has been bent in the women’s
game in recent years, is one of the unique aspects of the game, it’s also
detrimental to the quality of play at the pro level. Finally,
Will Leitch is a contributing editor at New York Magazine, the founding
editor of Deadspin and a columnist for Sporting News magazine. He is the
author, most recently, of “God Save the Fan,” and is writing a book about
baseball and fatherhood. He
asks: “Has tennis, like chess and competitive eating, become less compelling
as its competitors have approached theoretical mastery and physical dominance
of their sport? If someone comes up with a 200-mile-per-hour serve (and it’ll
happen someday), tennis will be impossible to watch.” To
read the full feature articling the New York Times > click
here. 4th
September 2009 |
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