Roger Federer’s former coach gives his opinion on the shot clock rule after Frances Tiafoe complains

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Roger Federer’s former coach Paul Annacone has weighed into the tennis’ shot clock debate.

Since a significant rule change regarding the shot clock was introduced on the ATP Tour it has sparked a conversation that has left players and fans divided.

The clock, which allows players 25 seconds of rest between points, now begins automatically after three seconds.

This is different from the original rule, which stated the shot clock began after the chair umpire had called the score of the point that just concluded.

What did Roger Federer’s former coach Paul Annacone say about the new shot clock rule?

The new shot clock rule was given trial run at Queen’s Club in June and has remained on the tour ever since. Some players, such as Frances Tiafoe, are struggling with the clock beginning earlier than he is accustomed to.

While Roger Federer’s former coach Paul Annacone understands the concept of trying to speed up the game, he does not think this is the way to achieve that.

“It doesn’t take any of that stuff into consideration like how big the court is, where the towels are, where you finish what’s going on in the match, how loud the crowd is, and all the other stuff that can be happening, it’s it’s really tough to make it black and white like that,” he told Tennis Channel.

“What they’re trying to do is streamline and make the matches more watchable with less dead time, I’m not sure this is the area to cut.”

What did Frances Tiafoe say about the new tennis shock rule?

For the fourth successive match, Tiafoe was given a time violation. One of them came at the Shanghai Masters, when Tiafoe swore at the official.

During the first set of his match against Cam Norrie at the Vienna Open, the 26-year-old was sanctioned and he responded by shouting in the direction of the chair umpire. After his 6-4 7-6(4) win, Tiafoe voiced his complaints on Sky Sports.

“We put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears out here. For me to play four consecutive matches and get four consecutive time violations is insane,” the US Open semi-finalist said.

“It needs to be spoken about because then it’s loss of points, loss of money, loss of opportunity, fines that come because of reactions.

“I’ll deal with it better when they make a change. The more I go on with it, I don’t think any change will happen.

“Four violations in four matches is pretty ridiculous to me. I have been on the tour for 10 years and that has never happened, so I want to know why.”