So, he's battling against a top player, it's a critical point in the match, and Pascal Maria-who's one of the most respected umpires in tennis- gives Pospisil a time warning. That's right. The server has 25 seconds between points to serve the ball. The rule is almost never enforced. When it is, it seems it's only enforced at a critical time in the match. My personal idol, Rafa Nadal, notoriously takes a long time between serves. He could be given a time violation after almost every point. He isn't. It only happens when there could be a turning point in the match.
The same thing happened to Pospisil today. I watched the match and had no sense that he was playing slowly, taking too much time between points. So Pospisil lost the first set, it was 5-5, 30 all in the second set and Maria decides that's the perfect time to call a time violation on Pospisil. Really?
Either enforce it on every point or don't enforce it at all.
Or get a time clock out there.
The other thing? Well, it's the women's shrieking. I can barely watch Azarenka or Sharapova for that exact reason.
No one will ever ever ever convince me that the grunting, squealing, shrieking of these women, Sharapova specifically, is anything other than gamesmanship.
Sharapova's screams have become louder and longer than ever. She actually sounds as if she is in physical pain with every strike of the ball. I'm sure she means to make it sound intimidating, but to me it sounds like she's giving every shot every ounce of her energy- which is why it seems so comical to me when she makes an error. Really Maria? That crappy shot deserved a scream on the uber decibel level?
It makes me crazy. And it makes me ready to quit watching women's tennis.
