ATP plans to shorten toilet breaks to five minutes
After the controversy over extended toilet breaks around Stefanos Tsitsipas and Novak Djokovic , the ATP wants to limit this to a maximum of five minutes. This was confirmed by the men's players' association of the AFP news agency on Monday.
by SID / tennisnet
last edit: Nov 23, 2021, 10:26 am
The toilet breaks by Stefanos Tstitsipas, they were the overriding topic of the first week of this year's US Open. After Andy Murray was quite upset about the action of the Greek, the discussion about the sporting fairness of these "interruptions" became quite emotional. Now the ATP wants to take extended breaks in the toilet, as those responsible told the AFP news agency.
Accordingly, the break in the coming season should "be limited to a maximum of three minutes from the moment the player enters the toilet". An ATP spokesman said two additional minutes should be used "to change outfits." In addition, each player should only be allowed one toilet break per game, these breaks can only be inserted between two sets.
Djokovic is also paused for a long time
This year, in addition to Tsitsipas' actions in Flushing Meadows, there have been several incidents in connection with the legal, but also questionable breaks. For example, the world number one Novak Djokovic took a long break after falling behind during the round of 16 of the French Open against Lorenzo Musetti and in the final against Stefanos Tsitsipas - and then turned the games.
The Greek, on the other hand, had said a little behind the events at the US Open that he only realized after the match that Djokovic's intention was not to break the rhythm of his opponent. Rather, the Serb used the break to reflect on his game. Well, it seems, there will be no more room for such tricks in the regulations.