http://sports.yahoo.com/tennis/news?slug=ycn-11085006
Players Want Rules Enforced: Fan ReactionSeveral professional tennis players this year have commented publicly about rules on tour being enforced. Or more to the point, they have been making comments about rules not being enforced. The two most common complaints come from the time players take between points (men) and the shrieks players emit when playing (women).Last week, speaking at the BNP Paribas Open, Roger Federer commented on the slow pace of play of Rafael Nadal. Chris Chase, who writes the Busted Racquet tennis blog on Yahoo! Sports, took some shots at Federer's comments. Chase likes to poke fun at the regal way the Fed tries to criticize without seeming to criticize.
But is Federer wrong? After all, he is calling for nothing more radical than for the existing rules to be enforced. Currently players are allowed 20 seconds between points while playing in Grand Slam events, but they are allowed 25 points in regular ATP tournaments. Unscientific estimates have predicted that the epic, nearly six-hour Australian Open final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal (two of the most notorious perpetrators of slow play) could have been cut by an hour if the players had followed a pace of play prescribed by the rules.On the women's side we (still!) hear complaints about the grunts, yells, and shrieks players issue when playing. During the Australian Open in January Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland (currently ranked #5) complained to the press about Maria Sharapova's noise levels while playing. Last fall then-#1 Caroline Wozniacki went further, claiming that players were actually making noise to gain an advantage. Still, like the ATP and pace of play, the WTA does little to address the noise issue.One of the negative public perceptions of tennis is that, as an individual sport, it's filled with prima donnas surrounded by of enablers who refuse to try to get the players into line. Sadly, there is lots of evidence to support this. Just watch SportsCenter during a Grand Slam and it won't be too long before you'll be treated to footage of a player smashing a racquet (or several). Or watch this video.Fans of all sports want the rules enforced consistently and fairly. Football fans want the Super Bowl champion Giants treated the same as the team in last place. Tennis fans should want the same. The notion that top players "have earned" a certain amount of latitude that the #167-ranked player doesn't get really doesn't do the sport any favors. I really enjoy following the career of Rafael Nadal. Not only is he one of the all-time greats, but everything about him tells me he is an individual of class and integrity. I simply wish he would stop taking an eternity between points.Now that the players themselves are speaking out about these problems, maybe the tours will be forced to act. The first step seems easy enough. Tell the referees to enforce the rules. Then be ready to back them up when the players complain.Brad Boeker has been a fan of professional tennis for over 30 years. He coaches high school tennis in Illinois.
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