Former British tennis star and BBC pundit Kyle Edmund would like to see a surprising change at Wimbledon and the other Grand Slams.
Wimbledon has nearly reached its halfway point, with Novak Djokovic, Aryna Sabalenka, Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek among those bidding to win titles in SW19.
Edmund was never able to make a huge impact at the All England Club, only going as far as the third round, but did reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open in 2018.
The former British number one was outplayed by US Open champion Marin Cilic, who proceeded to lose to arguably the best player in history, Roger Federer, in the final in Melbourne.
Edmund has begun working in the media since hanging up his racket 12 months ago and is part of the BBC’s punditry team at Wimbledon.
It was in that role that the 31-year-old made the surprising proposal for Grand Slams to ditch on-court player warm-ups before matches.
The Grand Slam Rule Book says players should be given time to warm-up on court (usually five minutes) after a toss coin which determines who serves first and which end they start from.
Ditching this part of the game has been trialled at the Next Gen ATP Finals and Edmund says it would ‘make such a difference’ if it was adopted by the Grand Slams.
‘The one thing I would like to change in tennis is to take out the five-minute warm-ups on court,’ the former world number 14 said.
‘I don’t think it’s going to happen but just from watching other sports, I think there’s something to be said for the product of the spectacle…
‘It would be good for players to come out onto court, do the coin toss, decide who serves and from which end, and then we play. I think that would be quite interesting.
‘I do know they trialled that at the NextGen Finals in the last two years. But I’d love to see that on the professional circuit, I think it would make such a difference.’
The Grand Slam Board announced a number of changes in 2017 ‘intended to enhance the speed and integrity of the game’.
‘The lords of tennis are looking at all the ways to “speed up” the game for fans whose attention spans in this age of social media are only getting shorter,’ ESPN said at the time.
‘The warm-up and players’ little preparation rituals are areas that represent fat that can be cut without threatening the nature of the game.
‘The majors will now strictly enforce a regimen that requires players to be ready for the pre-match meeting (coin toss) one minute after they walk on court.
‘The warm-up will last five minutes, and the match will start 60 seconds later. A player could be fined up to $20,000 for ignoring the timetable.’
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