The Council of the Grand Slams (GSB, its acronym in English) announced on Tuesday its proposal for the next Australian Open to have a 25-second clock on the court that would time how long it takes to serve each tennis player between point and point.
In a statement, the GSB also proposed the possibility of a tennis player announcing his retirement before his first round match and receiving 50% of the prize he would get for having played it, with the other half taking the ‘Lucky loser’ (lucky loser) .
In addition, in 2018, the warm-up time prior to the game will be shortened, from fifteen minutes to seven, so that the tennis player who does not comply could be sanctioned with up to 20,000 dollars (17,000 euros).
Looking ahead to 2019, the GSB’s proposal includes reducing the number of seeds in Grand Slam tournaments from the current 32 to 16.
The new watch would begin to be used at the next Australian Open, which will be held in Melbourne from January 10 to 28, and would mean that tennis players would have a maximum of 25 seconds to serve between point and point, instead of the 20 seconds they currently have in Grand Slam.
Tennis player Rafael Nadal expressed in the last ATP Finals, held in London, that it is a measure that he does not like since “there are situations to which everyone has to adapt.”
«It is not a measure that I like. It is not the same to play at 40 degrees than at 15 degrees. There are situations to which each one has to adapt, and for that we have the referee, “said the tennis player about an initiative that was used in the past ‘Next Gen Finals’ played in Milan. EFE