ATP and WTA tennis tournaments in Washington, Toronto, Montreal, and Cincinnati this summer are featuring a shot clock. That roll out follows the U.S. Open’s announcement that it will use a timer this year to restrict servers to a maximum of 25 seconds.
Implementing a shot clock was originally one of a number of possible rule changes that the ATP tested last year at the Next Gen Finals in Milan that were designed to support pace of play initiatives. An emphasis was placed on regulating the time taken before serves because of the lack of consistency that had been seen when attempting to enforce a 20-second time limit.