On Monday at Wimbledon, Caroline Wozniacki fell to Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in her fourth round match, meaning this is her tenth straight exit at a Grand Slam before making the quarterfinals.
But Wozniacki wasn't just chatting about her play after the match, but about the time between points that her opponent was taking.
Wozniacki mentioned that the 20-second rule between points is being routinely abused, and that shot clocks might be the next thing to come to tennis if things don't change.
''I thought she was very slow,'' Wozniacki said. ''But I guess the referee, she has the time on it. If she's within the time, I guess it's OK.''
''I wouldn't mind,'' Wozniacki said. ''You have a clock. It shows exactly how much time you take in between points.''
The rules on time is something that is abused in just about every match you watch, and it's something that the stars in the sport seem to abuse more than anyone. Lukas Rosol, who lost to Rafael Nadal after taking the first set off him in their second round match, said he thought that Nadal took way too much time between points and that he doesn't get as much pressure to speed up because of his position in the game.
"I think all the players should have the same time between the points. But always the best players, they're taking much more than the normal players, and nobody is telling them nothing. I don't know why," Rosol said.
The one big name on the men's side that tends to agree with this is Roger Federer. The 17-time Grand Slam champion mentioned last week that he thought a shot clock might be smart considering that regular tour events allow 25 seconds between points, an eternity in a world that continues to want things quicker and faster.
"What you're going to see next is all of a sudden a shot clock," Federer said. "We discussed that as well. We said we didn't need to go that far. I wouldn't be surprised if that were to happen all of a sudden. Because you only just need a couple of guys always doing it, and that's when it happens."
Would a shot clock work? I believe so. While it probably won't look like our edited picture above, why not allow umpires, fans and players alike to see exactly the time between points, and get people going? Just like pitchers in baseball, the time between points and plays seem to elongate the more stressful the moment, but that isn't exactly fair to the player waiting on the other end of the net.
If tennis really wants to address one of its biggest issues, putting in a shot clock between points wouldn't be the wildest of ideas, and might actually work if the penalities are actually enforced.
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Shane Bacon is the editor of Devil Ball Golf and Busted Racquet on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shanebaconblogs@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter at @ShaneBacon!
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