A warning to Rafael Nadal and other notorious tennis procrastinators: The dawdling days of time-wasting between points and games are coming to an end, at least at Flushing Meadows.
The United States Open will use a 25-second serve clock at this year’s event, which will be the first time such a system will be deployed in the main draw at a major tennis tournament.
Players will now have 25 seconds from the end of a point to serve for the next one. If they don’t, they will face the consequences: The first violation will incur a warning, followed by the loss of a point and then the loss of a game.