Emma Raducanu has ended her season early following health concerns, and tennis stars have recently called for the sport to make several rule changes
Tennis has many cherished traditions, yet several leading players have recently proposed rule changes. There have been growing demands to improve protective measures for players, particularly following Emma Raducanu’s recent difficulties at the Ningbo Open.
The British sensation endured an unexpected loss to wildcard Zhu Ling earlier this month. Raducanu required medical help on two occasions during her match.
The first incident involved monitoring her blood pressure, while she later required treatment for her back. The 22-year-old had previously pulled out of the Wuhan Open due to dizziness.
Following the Ningbo Open, Raducanu brought her season to an early end, scrapping her intentions to participate in tournaments in Tokyo and Hong Kong. Other players have since debated the temperatures they are made to compete in during matches.
Heat rule
Tennis ace Matteo Berrettini has expressed concerns about the application of heat rules at certain tennis events. The four Grand Slam tournaments establish their own thresholds for extreme heat.
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However, during ATP events, the authority to approve extended intervals or halt a match rests with individual tournament officials. Berrettini has argued that the Grand Slam protocols should be standardised throughout the sport, which could benefit Raducanu in the future.
“During the Asian swing, I experienced conditions I’d never experienced before,” Berrettini said. “Hangzhou was hotter than Shanghai, but the tournament was smaller, so no one noticed.
“The first few days were so hot we couldn’t believe it. Luckily, they had a roof, and it rained a lot. When conditions are so extreme, the ATP needs to do what the Grand Slams did: introduce a heat rule or something similar.
“We don’t want players to get injured or have those difficulties. In the end, health comes first, but also the spectacle: if players don’t feel well, they withdraw. We don’t want that. Most people don’t even understand how different it can be to play even in the same tournament with only five degrees less or more.”
Three-set matches
Former US Open finalist Jessica Pegula has sparked debate by suggesting that men’s Grand Slam matches should be shortened from five sets to three. This would shake up Wimbledon and other Grand Slams, where men’s matches can last two sets longer than women’s.
“100 per cent I think it’s harder to win two-out-of-three than it is to win three-out-of-five,” she said after her unexpected first-round defeat at Wimbledon this year. “Not physically, obviously, but I think it always is going to cater to the better player in the long run if you’re playing three-out-of-five. I think you’d see a lot more upsets of top players if men played two-out-of-three in slams.
“It’s a lot harder when you don’t have that much time. You get down one break, especially for the men, and you’re like, ‘Oh, gosh, I’m kind of done. I need some luck. I need someone to choke a little bit.’
“There’s a lot [that] needs to happen. I definitely think three out of five you have way more time to turn around. You do. You have an extra set.”
Scoring system
Tennis’s distinctive scoring system stands as one of sport’s most recognisable oddities. Yet tennis icon Billie Jean King has previously stated that the time has come for the sport to embrace a more straightforward scoring method to help younger supporters grasp the game more easily.
“I want to make it easy for fans,” she told the BBC last year. “I think it should be one-two-three-four, not 15-love, 30-love. If you are a kid – I didn’t come from tennis – what the heck does that mean? If we want to get eight, nine, 10, 11, 12-year-old children involved in our sport we have to make it accessible to them – not to a 60-year-old fan.”
Shorter changeovers
Pegula has also put forward another rule change regarding tennis changeovers. These changeovers refer to the intervals that occur between odd-numbered games or when each set concludes, although these regulations have been relaxed at certain tournaments.
While some professional tennis players take exception to spectators moving about during changeovers, Pegula believes that it’s unjust for the rule to force fans to miss substantial chunks of a match.
“I don’t really get bothered by crowd or fan movement and stuff like that, ” Pegula said in August. “I think they’ve kind of tried to change some of that already, maybe making it more fan-engaged, like, throughout the match.
“Yeah, I think you should be able to probably… I hate when you’re standing outside and it’s two really long games and you have to wait for a changeover and you miss… I think that should change.
“I don’t really get bothered by fans having to come in and out, if there’s a lot going on. I know some players are, like, nobody can move in the whole stadium.
“I’m not like that, so I would like to see that change because I think from a fan perspective, to have to wait and miss, like, a huge part of the match, that’s not fun for a fan. Yeah, I think maybe that should change.”
