Novak Djokovic was surprised by a new rule on the ATP Tour, and he voiced his disagreement during his latest match at the 2024 Shanghai Masters.
The 37-year-old Serbian player doesn't compete as much as he once did. His schedule is much more restricted. He wants to spend more time with his family, and that's one of the main reasons why fans don't get to witness him as much as they used to.
Another one is obviously his health and recovery, which becomes much more difficult once an athlete gets close to their 40s, which is Djokovic's case.
During his time in the sport, he experienced many different rules and changes. A lot has changed over the past two decades, including the hawk eye, later the live electronic line calling, the change in ball kids not handing players the towels anymore, and the shot clock.
The shot clock, in particular, has been one of the additions that many older players have had a hard time getting used to. Most notably, Rafael Nadal is one of the players who takes the most time to get ready between the points.
Djokovic, too, is from the older generation of players. Still, he got used to the shot clock relatively fast, even though, like every tennis player, he received a few time violations during his career.
However, things changed even further in the second half of this tennis season. At the ongoing Shanghai Masters, the shot clock is automatic, which means it automatically starts after the rally ends, as opposed to before when the umpire had the influence over that.
That meant that the umpire could sense that after a longer rally, players would need more time to recover, starting the shot clock a little bit later. After short rallies, it wasn't really needed or necessary, as players often don't use anywhere close to the 25 seconds provided after hitting an ace, for example.
With the new rule change, plenty of players have received multiple time violations. Frances Tiafoe lost his first serve after receiving two time violations and cursed out the umpire after the match.
Stefanos Tsitsipas had the same experience, and he slammed the umpire both during and after the match. Novak Djokovic, probably the most experienced player on the ATP Tour, also had the same experience.
During his latest match, in which he beat Roman Safiullin in two sets, 6-3, 6-2, Djokovic complained to umpire Nacho Forcadell about the new rule, which he found 'unbelievable.'
"I get it’s not up to you. But the rule change is unbelievable. For four years, we had a situation where we couldn’t get the towel. The ball kids are doing their best, but they’re not trained. Without even notifying any players, they start this new rule. It’s incredible, honestly."
The 37-year-old player obviously saw the point behind the shot clock, which is to speed up the sport, but he wasn't happy about the change coming mid-season instead of during the off-season when it could be properly communicated with the players.
"I get it. You guys want to speed up the pace of the tennis match. But at the same time, we’ve got to know if we’re starting the season this way. We can’t change it midway in the season."
Still, even this rule change didn't stop Djokovic from reaching his 10th consecutive Shanghai Masters quarter-final, and he will be trying to avoid any issues with the shot clock in his quarter-final against Jakub Mensik from the Czech Republic.