Men's Wimbledon Final

[aelmpvw]

i'm an avid tennis fan but the excessive ball bouncing on serve by cilic is driving me crazy ... there should a new rule limiting the ball bounces to six

[Arrods]

I don't mind the ball bouncing as much, but why do they all choose 3 or more balls and then tap the surplus ones back to the ballboys/girls? It was a joy to watch Venus Williams as the 'exception to the rule'.

[aelmpvw]

i don't mind half a dozen bounces on serve but fourteen or more smacks of gamesmanship to me

[HansUrbancka]

Is there a reason for bouncing the ball more than once ? I have noticed that some players will bounce the ball six or more times, then pause for a few seconds before throwing it into the air. So why all the bouncing ?

Hans.

[New Judge]

It's simply part of them "steadying themselves" in preparation for their serve. Cilic has been warned a couple of times about exceeding the time limit between points (which is 25 seconds). The rule is rarely enforced by way of a penalty by chair umpires, especially when the big names are involved. Nadal is also a blatant transgressor. The solution is simple: a "shot clock" should be installed on the court and would be activated as soon as the previous point is ended. A loud buzzer sounds when the time limit is reached and if the ball has not been struck by then the point is forfeited. Players have a big enough advantage when serving as it is without providing extra time for them to "steady themselves".

Another annoying feature of the serve which seems to be happening more frequently is the player tossing the ball up and then failing to go through with the serve. I should like to see the rules changed so that (as in squash) as soon as the ball leaves the server's hand it is in play and the service must be carried through or the point is lost.

[emmie]

its driving me crazy too, i find it deeply irritating that no one has asked him to speed up a bit, Federer just gets on with it, as do most of the players.

[THECORBYLOON]

At the Grand Slam events, they have only twenty seconds between points. On YouTube, there's a video showing Federer wining a game in the same time it took Nadal to serve between two points.

[New Judge]

Thanks for the correction, Corby. I thought it was the other way round (25 seconds for the Slams and 20 seconds elsewhere) but I didn't bother to look it up. That being the case it is even worse. I saw a stat during one of Cilic's matched that showed his average time between points was something like 27 seconds, indication that some of his prevarications must have lasted far more than the permitted maximum.