Samantha Stosur joined fellow former US Open champion Maria Sharapova in calling for a clamp down on tennis time-wasters on Tuesday
New York: Samantha Stosur joined fellow former US Open champion Maria Sharapova in calling for a clamp down on tennis time-wasters on Tuesday. Australian 30-year-old Stosur demanded that the '20-seconds between points' rule be strictly observed regardless of the status of players within the sport who may be tempted to abuse it to gain an edge.
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Stosur's demands came just a day after Sharapova only half-jokingly said that all players insisting on medical timeouts should be charged $2,500 as a test of the severity of their ailments. "Maybe this 20 second rule needs to be implemented fairly for all players on all courts.
I guess the umpires have really got to look at what's going on on every single situation," said Stosur, who believes she has been a victim of an over-zealous approach in recent times. "Let's just say the last few slams I keep getting called for these soft warnings, and I've never been called for a time violation in my life, and I get told to hurry up while my opponent is in the back fence."
The women's tour has a 20-second limit while the men's game insists on a slightly more generous 25 seconds. The four Grand Slam events, however, are in the 20-second camp. Stosur added that the installation of a "shot-clock" on court to remind players of their obligations both to the fans and to the sport could be a step in the right direction.
It was an approach aired by Roger Federer at Wimbledon this year after Rafael Nadal had been accused -- not for the first time -- of taking more than 20 seconds. His accuser this time was Lukas Rosol who claimed the notoriously slow-going Nadal was taking around 30 seconds.
"I think it's important that we, as players, play up to speed and don't exceed the time limit, because what I don't want is that we lose viewers because we play too slow," said 17-time major winner Federer. Stosur revealed that players had met recently and the issue of having clocks on all courts had been raised in a drive to keep the action ticking over.
"I don't think that would be a bad idea. You know where you stand. I think everyone was kind of for it. As long as it's fair -- no matter where you are and who you're playing, I think all players would be fine with it."
On Monday, Sharapova had suggested a financial levy be introduced when medical timeouts are called. "I think we'd all see who really uses them and who doesn't. Yeah, I don't know what we put on it, maybe like 2,500 (dollars) or something. That would be fun," said Sharapova after her first round opponent Maria Kirilenko had taken a timeout to treat a left ankle injury.
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