The automatic shot clock used at the 2024 Shanghai Masters has been divisive, but Taylor Fritz outlined his support for it by mentioning his relationship with a particular umpire.
Several controversial incidents have distracted from the tennis at the penultimate Masters-1000 tournament of the season, even though there have been many great matches.
Most of the controversies have been related to players being unhappy with umpires. There was one major blunder from an umpire, but the players were incorrect in some of the examples.
The most egregious umpiring mistake came from Carlos Bernardes in Stan Wawrinka's defeat in Shanghai to Flavio Cobolli. Wawrinka served at 0-1 down in the third set and won the opening point.
Cobolli hit a delightful drop shot in the second point, meaning the score should have been 15-15. However, Bernardes called the score as 0-30, which Wawrinka did not notice. The three-time Grand Slam champion was broken for the only time and lost 6-7, 7-6, 6-3.
By contrast, Alexander Zverev was entirely wrong in his angry exchange with Mohamed Lahyani. The German was furious that the Swedish umpire called a double-bounce, but replays showed he was correct.
Another notable controversy involved Frances Tiafoe. He had a meltdown at the umpire in his match against Roman Safiullin after being given a time violation that cost him a first-serve, but the umpire was also correct in that case.
Novak Djokovic was also unhappy after being given a time violation in one of his matches by Lahyani, who attempted to explain to the Serbian that he had no choice because of the automatic shot clock.
Many other players, including Carlos Alcaraz, do not like the automatic shot clock, but Fritz illustrated his support for it by citing past complaints he had made about the Irish umpire Fergus Murphy, who Stefanos Tsitsipas clashed with during his match in Shanghai.
"I think it's a good change they made originally with the clocks, now that it's automatic, because before they used to, it was up to the umpire to start the clock, and umpires would be different."
"So I always had a problem, particularly with Fergus, because he would start the clock so fast. I play very quickly, and I was getting time violations called on me from him, but only from him, so I complained about that a lot. But I think it's a good change now that it's consistent, that they start it right after the point."
Fritz's previous frustration was understandable. Umpires took different approaches to the shot clock, with some being more strict and others more lenient. The automatic shot clock gives players more clarity.
Fritz also commented on the controversial incident in Wawrinka's match. Although he admitted that a mistake like that is unacceptable at such a significant tournament, he was also stunned that Wawrinka did not notice the error.
"And then, the other day, the score thing with Wawrinka and Cobolli, that's insane, that can't happen. I'm shocked that nobody noticed, I'm shocked that Stan didn't notice, that the server didn't notice in that situation, it's really insane. But yeah, you can't, messing up the score in a big match in the third is just, that can't happen."