We are less than 48 hours into 2013, yet there is so much to talk about! Granted, the season officially began on December 30th, 2012, but we'll just wait for the organizers of Brisbane and Shenzhen to figure that out...
The top Frenchmen on the ATP circuit are known for their flair and style, but a great deal of that pizazz comes from Gael Monfils. His on-court dramatics were missed by fans and non-fans alike, so it's great to see him back and doing well at the Qatar Open after rumors surfaced last month of him calling it a career. Even greater is this exchange with the chair umpire after a time violation warning during what would be an encouraging three-set triumph over third-seeded Phillipp Kohlschreiber:
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| So unfair. |
Let me first say this: I feel his pain. I could be standing still on a lukewarm day and I'm sweating. Not a good look. More implicative of the tour's direction, he wasn't the first to be issued a time violation warning in Doha. David Ferrer was given notice about stricter clock-watching before his first-round match and Feliciano Lopez was called for a time violation while facing triple-set point! Crazy. Still, it's hard to feel bad for a guy who looks like this, even with something splayed across his face:
Ferrer tweeted en Español in defense of his fellow countrymen, and while I agree that that particular call on Lopez was too harsh and at such an inopportune time, we need to see more of this on the ATP. These matches are just too long, especially at the Grand Slam level. Almost exactly one year ago, my favorite player of the last 5.5 years defeated his primary rival in one of the most epic matches in history, but I would never want to see it in its entirety again. Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are the two biggest time violators in tennis history, but they hardly ever get called out for wasting precious seconds ball-bouncing and tugging out wedgies! I'm still angry at them for waking me at 3AM and keeping me up until 10:30...
So I say "yea" to stricter timekeeping. It'll move along matches and promote tennis as a sport that the casual fan would want to check out every now and again. Plus, it'll help all of us rabid fanatics who are oceans away have enough energy to sit through the occasional red-eye match. Call it the Rafaole Ruling.
What say you? Agree with the impending harshness of the umps this season? Jealous of Feli's bod? Leave a comment and let's discuss. Unlike these tennis players, we've got all day.
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