World No.5 Alexander Zverev has weighed in on the debate over the use of towels between points in tennis matches by describing players who do so after every point as ‘ridiculous.’
In recent weeks there has been a debate about the subject following an incident involving Fernando Verdasco. During the Shenzhen Open, the Spaniard came under fire after yelling at a ball boy for not giving him his towel quick enough. Next month the ATP will trail the use of a rail at both ends of the court during the Next Gen finals in Milan, Italy. An initiative that has triggered concerns by Roger Federer over the extra time is may take to get the towel between rallies. Under current rules, players are allowed a maximum of 25 seconds between points.
“I think the idea of having the ball kids bring it (the towel) to you is to speed up the points in between.” Federer told reporters on Tuesday.
“If now you’ve got a hook or a rail in the back, It’s like are you wasting extra three seconds of time each and every point?”
“Which doesn’t sound like a lot, but you add that over a five-hour match, next thing you know, you saw much less tennis.”
21-year-old Zverev has questioned the logic of some of his fellow players for their towel use. Speaking about the topic following his win over Kyle Edmund at the Shanghai Masters, Zverev said that some players do so because of superstition and nothing else. Asked about his own opinion about the use of a rail, the German said that it ‘doesn’t make a difference’ to him.
“There are some players – some American players, some other players – that go for the towel literally after every single point,” AFP News quoted Zverev as saying.
“That’s a bit ridiculous, in my perspective.
“You serve an ace or a double fault, or your opponent serves an ace, and the poor ball kid has to keep running for the towel just because it’s a superstition and it’s not a use because you’re sweating too much or something like that.
“I mean, some players literally use it as superstition. That’s not the purpose for it.”
There is yet to be any word from the ATP over the possibility of towel rails being implemented on the tour in the future. Although the governing body of men’s tennis is known for using the Next Gen Finals, a round robin tournament for the best players under the age of 21, to test out new initiatives before applying them to the tour.
Zverev will play Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters on Saturday.
