Dealing with timeout gamesmanship

            During a match with Sloane Stephens in the 2013 Australian Open, Victoria Azarenka took a lengthy time out at a key point in the match in order to have, in her words a “rib unlocked”.  After Stephens was made to wait and “chill” for several minutes, Azarenka returned to the court and won the match.  Many observers felt that this time out was more for gamesmanship than treatment.  Although Azarenka vehemently denied this accusation, she and many others have been suspected of taking bathroom breaks or injury time outs in order to break the rhythm and momentum of their opponents.  This problem appears to occur more frequently in the women’s game.  Can anything be done about it?

One thing we can’t do is eliminate the availability of these breaks.  Sometimes players really do need to interrupt play, and we can’t have players being incontinent  on the court or playing with injuries that could lead to more serious problems down the road.   There is a way, though, to compensate the opponent who has sit and wait for play to resume while incurring the risk of having her own play compromised by the interruption.

According to the present rules, a player is allowed one coaching visit per set.  The visit may be made during an opponent’s bathroom break or during extended treatment when a medical time out is called.  However, once the coach has visited a player, he/she may not visit again until the next set begins.  In my opinion this rule should be changed to allow additional “free” coaching visits at the player’s request whenever an opponent takes an extended break. In this way, the player who is forced to sit and wait while the opponent takes a break is compensated for the potential negative impact of an extended interruption of play.  The opportunity for a player to benefit from an opponent’s break would deter players from taking breaks for gamesmanship while not slowing play in any way.   Presently, on court coaching is not allowed in grand slam tournaments.  However, everyone knows that it’s only a matter of time before this prohibition is lifted.  I say lift it now whenever one of the players takes an extended break.

In the men’s game there is no on court coaching allowed, a rule considered wrong by players like Rafa Nadal.  I have never seen a men’s match where a player was suspected of taking a strategic break, but there’s no reason why such behavior might not occur.   I believe that the men’s tour should take another look at this issue.  Players like Roger Federer favor the traditional approach that requires players to solve problems in a match without outside help.  I understand this point of view completely, but in the modern game, where complex rules governing interruptions of play now exist, we need to make sure those rules are not unfairly exploited.  I believe players who would exploit them might think twice if they knew their opponent could talk to his coach during extended breaks.