23-time grand slam champion Serena Williams has voiced her opposition to the use of shot clocks on the court by saying that she ‘isn’t a fan.’
This year, tournaments belonging to the US Open Series have agreed to implement the clocks in an effort to help speed up matches. It will be used to monitor how long players take during their warm-up and between points. As soon as players walk onto the court, they have 60 seconds before they must be at the net. Following the coin toss, another five-minute timer will be used to countdown the warm up. Then whilst the match is underway, a 25-second countdown will be visible for players to follow. Should they break the allotted time, players are eligible to be fined by officials.
“Yeah, I’m not a fan of it at all, but, you know, it doesn’t affect me at all,” Williams said during her Monday press conference in Cincinnati. “I’m just not a fan because I play so much faster than the shot clock that when I first played with it, I felt like I had to play faster and I don’t, really.
“So I just need to still play at whatever pace I play at even if it says 20 seconds right before I’m about to serve.”
Williams is not the first player to criticise the initiative. Rafael Nadal has been one of the most vocal opponents to the idea. Arguing that by rushing matches, it may have a negative impact on the quality of rallies that take place.
“In terms of the sport, depends. If you want to see a quick game without thinking, well done.” The world No.1 commented about shot clocks earlier in the year.
“If you want to keep playing in a sport that you need to think, you need to play with more tactics, you want to have long and good rallies, then of course you are going the wrong way.
“But seems like sometimes is only about the business, so… I can’t support this, no. Because I don’t feel the matches that stay for the history of our sport went that quick.”
Despite some high-profile players hitting out against it, others are maintaining a more positive outlook. Novak Djokovic said it feels like he now has ‘more time’ between points. It is the discretion of the umpire as to when they start the 25-second countdown following points.
“I actually feel like there is more time now than before because the shot clock starts counting down once the chair umpire calls the score,” Djokovic said.
“Sometimes it takes several seconds before the chair umpire calls the score if it’s a long exchange or a good point and the crowd gets involved.”
“I’m pretty comfortable with it .”
The shot clock will be used in the main draw of this year’s US Open for the first time.
