Efficiency will be a watchword at Wimbledon this year, from the speed of the ball kids to the pace at which the ground staff get the covers on the court and – more controversially – the time given for players to rest at the changeovers after every two games.
In an age when TV executives are looking for the sport to be speeded up, in part due to the perceived shorter attention of younger viewers, many players are concerned that they are being unnecessarily hurried, particularly as, by common consent, the sport has become more physical than ever.
Grand slam rules state that players have 90 seconds from the end of the last point before the changeover to the moment they begin the first point afterwards. Until a few years ago – no one quite knows when the rule was changed – it was a 90-second sit-down; now, umpires start a 60-second countdown the moment when the last point before the changeover is completed. They then have 30sec to start the next point.
Since Covid-19, ball boys and girls no longer hand players their towels, so players collect them from boxes by the side of the court and often, by the time they reach their seat, as little as 45 seconds can be left. The confusing thing is that on the regular Tours, played over the best of three sets, players get two minutes in total, thanks to TV, which wants a set time to show more adverts.
“It is a bit strange because you obviously have TV changeovers on the Tour,” the British player Dan Evans said this weekend. “I actually asked that at Roland Garros [last month], because I didn’t understand why in a harder match, effectively, you get less time. I can’t remember the answer – not a lot changes. It is a bit strange actually. I guess it’s for TV purposes.”
The issue came to a head in the men’s final at Roland Garros when Novak Djokovic took issue with the umpire, Damien Dumusois, whom he felt was being a little trigger-happy when it came to starting the clock for the changeover. “I’ve not even come to the bench, why are you rushing?” a frustrated Djokovic said. “Wait for us to sit down and then call the score, for God’s sake. Can you call the score when we [sit] down? We’re playing one hour and 10 minutes, one set, best of five, grand slam, on clay and you’re rushing to call the score.”
Ironically, television was partly responsible for the lengthening of matches in the first place. It was only in 1974 that players at Wimbledon were first given chairs to sit on at changeovers. Before then, players stopped by their bags, grabbed a quick drink and walked on. The question is why the changeover breaks are shorter in grand slam tournaments, especially on the men’s side when matches are best of five sets.
“I understand TV and everything, but honestly, we’re the ones who play,” the Russian player Daria Kasatkina said in Paris last month. “I mean, two games can be, like, 10, 15 minutes, crazy rallies playing in the heat, and then you go and you have 45 seconds to sit and to breathe. This is for me not good. [It should be] one minute 30 seconds, like what we are used to. I don’t know why it has to be different … especially for the men, to play five sets. They play longer, and they have less breaks.”
On grass, where the rallies may be shorter, perhaps the players will not worry so much. Umpires do have discretion to start the clock later but they seem to have become even stricter of late.
Marion Bartoli, who won Wimbledon 10 years ago, doesn’t see why the game needs to be speeded up at all. “I don’t understand that idea, to be honest with you,” she said. “It’s another thing to be a TV viewer [but] being inside the stadium is completely different. When you’re inside a stadium, people want the [best] matches to last 10 hours if possible. You are enjoying the drama, you are enjoying the pressure, you are enjoying the electricity and the atmosphere.
“I’m not saying to put three minutes of changeover but … let them take the towel, let them go sit and when they’re both seated, you start the 60 seconds. If one player is obviously on purpose walking massively slowly to their chair, then you give them a warning. At least then they have enough time to gather themselves and then be ready for the next two games.”
