Tactical timeouts will probably be allowed in mixed-doubles matches on the ATP-WTA season-opening United Cup, organisers stated Friday, calling it a world first for tennis.
The brand new rule will allow a participant or captain to name a 60-second timeout to confer on technique by urgent a big crimson buzzer within the workforce zone courtside.
It may possibly solely be used whereas on serve, and never between first and second serves, with a most of 1 per workforce allowed throughout a match.
They won’t be used throughout singles clashes.
“Timeouts provoke a pause in play, it’s a time for groups to debate ways and technique and probably change the momentum of a match,” stated United Cup event director Stephen Farrow.
ALSO READ | Jenson Brooksby on residing with autism: It’s simply one thing I don’t wish to need to maintain to myself
“We’re excited to see how the perfect tennis gamers on this planet and their groups utilise this new instrument,” Farrow added.
The 18-team United Cup kicks off the 2025 season from December 27 to January 5 in Perth and Sydney forward of the Australian Open Grand Slam in Melbourne.
Every workforce options three males and three girls, with ties comprising one males’s and one girls’s singles and an usually decisive mixed-doubles conflict.
A bunch of the world’s prime gamers have signed up, together with Iga Swiatek and Alexander Zverev.