Scrap
'nonsense' doubles format, says Jamie Murray
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[January 24, 2017]
By Simon Cambers
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Top men's doubles
player Jamie Murray has called for an end to the ATP Tour's scoring
system in the format and says there is widespread support for it to
be changed.
While the grand slams have stuck to the best-of-three sets system,
the men's tour uses a sudden-death point at deuce and has a tie
break in place of a final set.
The system was introduced in 2006 to help broadcast rights holders
better plan their schedules.
Murray, whose Australian Open title defense was ended in round one
when he and Brazilian Bruno Soares lost to Americans Sam Querrey and
Donald Young, said the players did not think much of the change.
"It's nonsense, I think," said Murray, who reached the world number
one doubles ranking last year. "When we come to grand slams we
always feel like the best team wins.
"They're not putting matches on center court or on TV (in regular
events), so just put us on the outside courts and let us play normal
scoring."
Chris Kermode, the executive chairman and president of the ATP Tour,
said doubles was "a very important part" of the Tour and that the
format change had been a success.
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"The changes to the format in 2006 were made ... ultimately with the
aim of offering a fast-paced and innovative product which is easier
to schedule on show courts, as well as facilitating participation
for singles players," he said by email.
"Looking back, I think you could argue that those changes have
worked. Doubles has come to play an integral part in the overall
success of our season-ending tournament, as well as providing our
doubles players with an amazing showcase."
SINGLES NEXT?
Other leading doubles players believed the format allowed too much
room for luck.
"The difficulty is that the match can be decided on 10 good minutes
from your opponent," said Raven Klaasen, the South African who was
runner-up at the ATP finals in London last November.
"I think all doubles players would like to have an opportunity where
it doesn't feel so out of your control and that would be with a
scoring system that allows a bit of time to breathe as the old
system was."
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Great Britain's Jamie Murray during his doubles semi final match
with Brazil's Bruno Soares against South Africa's Raven Klaasen and
USA's Rajeev Ram Action Images via Reuters / Tony O'Brien Livepic
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Klaasen added that the singles format could be next in the firing
line.
"I think down the line, singles will have the same issue," he said.
"We need to predict the match is not going to be five hours, so it's
more likely that the singles start talking about that than that
doubles goes to a longer version."
Soares said he believed all the top doubles players would vote to
change it back to the same format used at the slams or to two full
sets with normal scoring and a tie break, while former No. 1 Nenad
Zimonjic said fairness was the main gripe.
"Just the fact that you could be playing much better for say 80
percent of the match and then last five minutes you play bad and you
end up losing, I don't think it's really fair," said the Serbian.
Murray has a good ally on the ATP Player Council -- his brother
Andy, the top men's singles player. However, he did not see change
on the horizon
"I think they could change it," he said. "They won't, but they
could."
Kermode said nothing was set in stone.
"The scoring format is a popular topic of debate, not only in
doubles but also in singles, and we'll continue to listen to our
player members on any discussions moving forward," he said.
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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