An engineer overthinks tennis in a daily journal.
The USTA recently released the 2022 USTA League Regulations. Unlike in years past, there are some non-trivial changes in the document from the draft version circulated earlier in 2021. The most striking change is in the page formatting and layout. For reasons that defy my understanding, the final document is not a standard paper size. It is thin and narrow and not particularly friendly for printing or viewing on a mobile device.
In her women’s finals at the Australian Open against eventual champion Ash Barty, Danielle Collins snapped of a forehand with so much force that her “lucky” bracelet flew off her wrist. Quite frankly I am always astonished at players who can play with anything loose on their wrist. The fact that she broke the metal clasp during a tennis stroke is also fairly impressive.
In the second round of the Australian Open, Pablo Carreno Busta hit an unusual “around the net post” winner against Tallon Griekspoor. It is a perfect example that highlights one of the more obscure rules of tennis. In fact, it is a rules interpretation that the ESPN announcer didn’t get exactly right.
The 2022 edition of the Friend at Court has been published by the USTA. There were no changes to the Rules of Tennis as published by the ITF. The USTA made minor changes to scheduling guidelines and the minimum rest between matches.
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In certain pockets of the tennis ecosystem, there is a general awareness that a new “World Tennis Number” system is coming soon. The same people that whisper that bit of tennis insider information inevitably follow it up with breathless exhortations that it’s going to be amazing. No one can ever claim that tennis organizational insiders have a lack of enthusiasm for vague forthcoming changes that will revolutionize the administrative side of the sport. By the same token, no one can claim that there is any semblance of a track record of success in such initiatives. In any case, the World Tennis Number is apparently coming soon.
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Ever since New Year’s Day rolled around I have been eagerly anticipating the release of the 2022 ITF Rules of Tennis. As a blog that started with a rules oriented focus, it just kind of feels like the right thing to do. The ITF finally got around to posting the new document on their web site yesterday morning. After electronically comparing the differences between the 2021 and 2022 documents, I can confidently assert that there are no material changes to the ITF Rules of Tennis in 2022.
I have previously observed that the word “grievance” is used a lot in the USTA League Regulations. I frequently cite this as evidence that something has gone terribly wrong with the spirit and intent of the league system. It is supposed to be fun. It is not supposed to be litigious.
Since formation of USTA League teams for 2022 is already in high swing, now is the perfect time to take an advance look at new rules which are expected to come into effect. The 2022 USTA League Regulations (apparently) have yet to be officially released. However, a draft document was circulated for review last June that is probably close enough for our purposes.
The ATP recently unveiled plans to modify medical timeouts for tour events. Since the announcement came in the same press release as the new bathroom break rules, it kind of got lost in the shuffle. Additionally, the ATP has not determined exactly when this new rule will be effective. The expectation is that it will come sometime in 2022.
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Last Wednesday we reviewed a new rule associated with toilet breaks that the ATP tour is implementing in 2022. It is a clear and direct response to the media coverage and backlash surrounding the toilet habits of Stefanos Tsitispas. Buried at the end of the ATP announcement of the rule, was an innocuous little sentence that the penalty for extended bathroom breaks are Time Violations.
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