STRATEGIC medical time-outs during WTA Tour matches could be drastically reduced by a radical new "user pays" system planned for next season. The women's governing body intends to cap the number of occasions players are permitted to call a trainer on court for an extended consultation and issue bills for any excess.
As prize money soars to record levels despite the potential bite of the global economic crisis, the financial penalties are unlikely to inflict excessive pain, ranging from $US100 ($A151) per visit at smaller tournaments such as the new Brisbane International in January, to about $500 at the biggest, such as Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Beijing.
The four grand slams, which are run by the International Tennis Federation, would be exempt from the cap, expected to be set at six or seven for the year. The ATP has no plans to introduce a similar system, but is likely to monitor its impact.
Peter Johnston, the WTA's senior vice-president of operations, said the "nominal" charges were designed to minimise the number of unwarranted time-outs, with the revenue to be reinvested in its sports science services.
"We understand that medical time-outs can be legitimate but we want to make sure that players are conscious of how many they're using up throughout the year, so we're looking to find a system of capping them during the season," said Johnston, the former Australian Open deputy tournament director.
"It would trigger what we'd call a service fee. It's a sports science and health issue, so it's almost like a pay-per-view. You can keep using them, but you pay for them, and the amount would depend on the level of the event. It's not about us revenue-raising, it's more just a mindset — like, 'Hey, checkpoint, you've triggered this. Are they all legitimate?' It discourages the practice of, 'I'm feeling a bit weary, I might take a medical time-out'."
In theory, the system could penalise the lower-ranked players with less capacity to pay than multi-millionaires such as Maria Sharapova and the Williams sisters, but Johnston described the WTA's player council as "very supportive" of the concept, which was likely to be in place when the 2009 season opens in Brisbane and Auckland.
The initiative is one of several designed to improve the presentation of women's tennis — in this case to avoid unnecessary delays. "It's just about helping players understand it's 'the show'," Johnston said. "It all gets into that basket of how we present a tighter, crisper, sharper product."
On-court coaching, which has been trialled in the past, will also be adopted permanently next year as part of the tour's so-called Roadmap 2009. The new TV-driven rule allows a player to request their coach once each set, as well as during an opponent's medical time-out or bathroom break. All coaches called onto the court during televised matches will be required to wear a microphone, but the conversation will not be audible in the stadium.
At first glance it seems like a very good thing. I'm just not that convinced it will be very beneficial, I think it would make more sense to implement something like that at the four grand slam tournaments.
Where 1. most players can actually afford to pay for any extra treatment and 2. it would help eliminate the psych-out factor that goes on at grand slams (having a trainer come out on court to give treatment thereby making your opponent think you're seriously hurt).
I don't see the point of introducing it only at the smaller tournaments, where as the article points out, the players will most likely not be able to afford it anyway.
But, the most curious thing?. It's the women's governing body that is trying to implement it. Meaning the women players are more prone to calling a trainer then the men?.
Very surprising, it seems like it should be the other way around (since men are more physical anyway).
And call me crazy but punishing the female players only seems very self-discriminatory as well.
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