British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

indiana · Tennis legend

Weeks 27 & 28 - The Championships, Wimbledon (Womens') (grass) - main draw

HarryGem · Club Coach

RJH1962 wrote:
Helen40 wrote:
RJH1962 wrote:
Helen40 wrote:
Watching Siegmund, and wishing Sonay or Emma could incorporate some of that. Really hoping she'll beat Sabalenka, but not looking too promising now.
Have to say i didnt like the time wasting and gamesmanship being shown. Very happy that Sabalenka got through.
Not the time wasting, I can't say I saw it as gamesmanship, but variety and tactics were superb.
Agree with the variety but she was deliberately making Sabalenka wait to serve which I felt crossed the line. Also every change of ends she stayed on her seat at least 30 seconds after the umpire called time.

As opposed to the deliberate long and over loud screaming which continues until her opponent plays their shot and which she can stop when it is obvious the ball is going into the net for eg. It is time this was dealt with by the sport. Siegemund always plays that way and gets into the minds of her opponents. The umpire should deal with it better but not as bad as the screaming in my opinion.

So glad Anisimova beat her. Final could be interesting but Swiatek has looked very god so far.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Yes, I quite like Sabalenka and I have no real problem (well, a bit bit but I can live with it) with the initial scream

But it seems to me that the rule should be that any scream/shout must be finished as the ball crosses the net i.e. when it goes onto the other side of the court

And I think that would be really easy to monitor for the umpire as he/she's sitting right on that net and the scream is very audible i.e. it's not a tricky, delicate thing to call

I think if this was called hindrance then the players would make sure the noise stopped earlier, which is no problem for them - as you say, they're perfectly capable of doing so

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

I'm not sure it bothers other players that much, but it's not pleasant for me as a spectator.

I remember another player being asked about Shreikopova's scream and saying it wasn't an issue.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Helen40 wrote:
I'm not sure it bothers other players that much, but it's not pleasant for me as a spectator.

I remember another player being asked about Shreikopova's scream and saying it wasn't an issue.

yes - I think they should introduce the rule for us, the TV watchers, it's dreadful - but basing it on the other player and the ball crossing the net seems easy - it's rather arbitrary otherwise, unless you have a noise meter it's going to be very discretionary, and that generally is not good.

The serve clock has worked pretty well. The fact that umpires no longer overturn linecalls and linesmen no longer call them works pretty well. Nothing is perfect, there will be mistakes, but there's far fewer with technology, IMO, and there's far less ability for the top players to exert pressure, as they did before.

Now, toilet breaks etc are another point .....

But I think the noise rule re crossing the net would be quite simple and a benefit to everyone

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

On a separate note re the shrieks, I've seen plenty of trainers of young players

And they obviously all train them to exhale as you hit the shot - standard stuff - very important

BUT if the trainer is down the other end, feeding balls, they can't check they're exhaling

So a lot of trainers actually tell their young players to shout as they hit, to prove they're exhaling

it's understandable but daft