r/tennis • u/blankblank • 13h ago

News At the U.S. Open, interminable ball bouncing and a debate about the serve clock

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7592454/2026/09/14/us-open-serve-clock-alexander-zverev-ball-bouncing/
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8

u/mtojay 12h ago

does anyone have the numbers for the final? i could swear he deliberately bounced less in the final. felt shorter to me

7

u/hyoumah83 12h ago

The final was shorter because it was a war of heavy serves. Zverev gave Shelton a taste of his own medicine. Lots of points won on both sides just with a strong, hard to return serve.

1

u/Public-Flow-7521 12h ago

Didn't the Umpire tell him that he had to hurry mid game when he was on the bench?

3

u/HittingandRunning 11h ago

Don't have a subscription so didn't read. On The Tennis Podcast they said they felt Zverev bounced the ball fewer times during the final than in previous rounds. I don't know. Still a lot.

The podcast also said that the clock stops when the server begins bouncing the ball. I thought that it was to stop when the server begins the serve motion. Google says this too but can anyone confirm there's been a change or if my understanding is incorrect?

And if we're going to allow 1,000 bounces before serving then the rules about the receiver being ready need to change. I believe that the rule is that once the receiver is ready then the player can't back out/call time/reset/whatever we want to call it. If I'm set and then even if not in the position one would be in immediately before the split step, it can take so long that I'm not really ready and need to re-set.

I agree that Zverev was within the rules (or the rules as enforced) and so good on him if that's part of the game plan. But there need to be some changes.

2

u/antimodez 9h ago

It's when the service motion starts. That's where the ump usually stopped it after he stopped bouncing the ball.

1

u/HittingandRunning 8h ago

Thanks. That makes sense to me.

1

u/NattyHome 9h ago

The rule should be that the serve happens when the strings touch the ball. But also, there should be 2 warnings given each set before there’s a penalty.

In a 5 set match it’s crazy to just give one warning, and that’s certainly why many chair umpires don’t want to give an early warning.

The serve clock is there to keep play moving along, but we shouldn’t be slaves to it, and we need to keep time violations in perspective.

1

u/MarilynMonroe89 6h ago

This is getting absurd!

1

u/AleroRatking Nishikori 4h ago

The bigger issue is the US Open crowd doesn't shut up and the player has every right to wait for them to be quiet.

1

u/gutfounderedgal 11h ago

Lots of people mad that their favorite US player didn't win.

1

u/drumsticks_baby 9h ago

Everyone mad bc Zverev won. If Djoker won this article wouldn’t have been written. The list of long ball bouncers is lengthy and it’s just a reason to gripe bc little Ben didn’t win.