Carlos Alcaraz believes tennis officials need to be more ‘tactful’ when it comes to penalising players for time violations and has called for adjustments to be made to the rule.
The world No.2 spoke about the issue after being hit with a penalty during his marathon encounter with Jaume Munar that lasted nearly three-and-a-half hours on the hottest day of the year so far in the UK. Alcaraz was given a time violation halfway through the deciding set but argued with the umpire that he didn’t have enough time to dry his hands between points.
Under the current rules, players are allowed to have up to 25 seconds between points. If a player breaks the allotted time, they will first receive a warning. Then, they potentially face losing a first serve or a point penalty for another violation.
“‘I think so,’ Alcaraz replied when asked if the rule needs to be changed.
“They also have to have to be a little tactful with that. We’ve been playing for three hours, we finished a long point at the net, they should have a little bit of hand and give us some more time. There are a lot of situations where everything is slow and time is running out, and we can’t prepare for the next point. When you can’t prepare in the right way for the next point, you can’t play it in the right way, so I think it’s not the best for the show (match).”
Elaborating further, the five-time Grand Slam champion took aim at the umpire who he suggested ‘wanted to have the limelight.’ His encounter with Munar was the longest match to take place at Queen’s since 1991.
“It’s not nice and it’s not nice for us either. I personally try to go as fast as possible. I don’t remember the last time I got a time warning and in the first round I didn’t have any problems,” he continued.
“Today (Thursday) I had several problems with it. I don’t understand it. I also think it’s a problem of the chair umpire, who maybe wanted to have the limelight, but it’s a rule that should be changed.”
Besides his disagreements with the umpire, Alcaraz believes he is heading in the right direction when it comes to his game on grass. So far in his career, he has won 26 out of 29 Tour-level matches played on the surface. At Wimbledon, he will be aiming to win the title for a third consecutive year.
“There is little time to adapt to this surface, to train, to get used to how to move, the more time you spend on court the better,” he commented.
“Three and a half hours wasn’t necessary either, but obviously this match helps me a lot for what’s to come. It has given me very positive feedback on what I have to improve, and what I have to do. I played much better tennis than in the first round. I felt much better in terms of mobility.”
Alcaraz will play France’s Arthur Rinderknech in the quarter-finals on Friday.
