The ATP indicated at the beginning of September to the Parisian to be “in the process of reflection” and that it would communicate “in due time”. Here we are. The very controversial toilet breaks and other changes of outfit will be the subject of more precise regulations.
In recent months, protests have grown louder on the men’s circuit. Novak Djokovic then Stefanos Tsitsipas having notably taken advantage as best they could this season of the vagueness around these “pit stops” to regenerate. Authorized by the regulations but framed by no time limit – the ATP only called for a “reasonable time” – they were, according to many players, the object of abuse and distorting the dynamics of a match.
They will not be prohibited in the future, simply limited in time. In a text sent to the players that L’Équipe has been able to consult, we learn that a player will not have the right to exceed a period of three minutes once entering the sanitary facilities, and a period of two minutes if he wants to change. clothing. These breaks will only be authorized, as was already the case, at the end of a round. In practice, the public and the opponent could wait up to ten minutes for certain athletes who had left in the corridors of a stadium. “If it’s to break the pace, it’s unsportsmanlike,” Frenchman Adrian Mannarino denounced in September at the US Open after a furious defeat against Tsitsipas.
Likewise, a three-minute medical time-out will be granted per match. To be requested as a change of side or at the end of the set. If the player cannot play the game until the next change of ends, he will lose the required points until that break.
