ATP and WTA tennis tournaments in Washington, Toronto, Montreal, and Cincinnati this summer are featuring a shot clock. That roll out follows the U.S. Open’s announcement that it will use a timer this year to restrict servers to a maximum of 25 seconds.
Implementing a shot clock was originally one of a number of possible rule changes that the ATP tested last year at the Next Gen Finals in Milan that were designed to support pace of play initiatives. An emphasis was placed on regulating the time taken before serves because of the lack of consistency that had been seen when attempting to enforce a 20-second time limit.
Referees were previously given a level of discretion when deciding when to penalize players, which while good-intentioned, often resulted in frustration from both fans and players. Marin Cilic, notorious for his lengthy service routine, noted his frustration regarding how the rule was officiated. “Some referees [were] enforcing the rule, some are very lenient. It’s not very consistent,” Cilic said, according to Tennis.com.
The new shot clock will still grant the referees the leniency that is sometimes needed after long rallies, but now both fans and players will know at what point the shot clock is initiated and how long remains until the time runs out.
“I actually feel like there is more time now than before because the shot clock starts counting down once the chair umpire calls the score,” said Novak Djokovic, who also has a reputation for taking an extensive amount of time in between serves, at Toronto’s Rogers Cup. “Sometimes it takes several seconds before the chair umpire calls the score if it’s a long exchange or a good point and the crowd gets in, so I’m pretty comfortable with it”.
SportTechie Takeaway
Over the past three years the U.S. Open, ATP, and WTA have been testing numerous reforms designed to increase pace of play, including the shot clock. The ATP and WTA supporting pace of play initiatives follows a common trend across professional sports, decreasing the overall broadcast time.
The U.S. Open is the first of the four grand slam tournaments to implement the shot clock. Similarly, it was also the first to implement “Hawkeye”, tennis’s instant replay review system, so expect to see other grand slam tournaments follow suit.