The Tennis Community Takes Sides on Alexander Zverev's US Open Ball Bouncing

German player Alexander Zverev took home his second Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows by defeating American powerhouse Ben Shelton in four sets. However, his propensity to bounce the ball many times over for each serve has drawn criticism and commentary from the tennis community.

Zverev’s US Open Ball Bouncing

Players are allowed to bounce the ball as long as it does not surpass the 25 seconds allowed for the first serve, but many members of the tennis community found Zverev’s ball bouncing to be over the top. He apparently bounced the ball around 12,000 times across his first five matches at the tournament.

Over the course of the entire US Open, one source estimated that Zverev bounced the ball for almost two and a half hours in total. There is also no time limit for the second serve, which likely added to this statistic. Although his actions are legal, online fans accused the two-time Grand Slam champion of using the maneuver as an intentional distraction tactic.

Zverev has become well-known for complaining about his opponents misusing medical timeouts and other rules as a stalling tactic. The negative response from fans and tennis players may be in part due to this perceived double standard.

Khachanov’s Criticism after Semifinal Match

After Karen Khachanov was defeated in the semifinals, the neutral athlete complained about Zverev’s insistent ball bouncing: "The way he bounces the ball, look, it annoys not only me, but, of course, a lot of players, because it takes so much time. You don't know how to prepare for the serve; you are ready, then it's another 12 bounces."

"At the end of the day,” he continued, “if it's within the rules regarding the time, I cannot say anything against that, because it's in the rules. If he extends the time, he gets a time violation, simple as that."

Shelton’s Reaction after Final Match

After he lost to Zverev in the final, Shelton complained about a timer applying only to the player’s first serve, saying, “I think that there should be some sort of rule... limiting time on second serve. You shouldn’t have unlimited time.”

Most of Shelton’s complaints stemmed from the umpire asking him to be ready earlier, but he disagreed with the warning: "I should not have to sit at the line if he is bouncing the ball 20 to 25 times. I should not have to just sit there for that. He should be able to start it. He never does less than 10 bounces, so I'm always going to be ready when he's ready to serve.”

"I think that is a stupid rule,” he continued, “that you have to be sitting there if it's a guy who has his routine. As long as you are ready when he puts his hands together and stops bouncing the ball, that's what should matter."

Zverev’s Humored Response

When the issue was mentioned after the semifinal, Zverev laughed and responded, “I’m not doing it on purpose. I saw the stat. Like, I bounced it 12,000 times or something like that. That’s quite funny. I don’t know why it increased so much. I saw it before the semifinal, so I was, like, OK, it’s got to go less. Then I forget about it every once in a while, and then it goes up to … I don’t know what number it is.”

After the win against Shelton, Zverev was a bit more serious, saying, “But I am still always within the time frame, so at the end of the day, you can do whatever you want within the actual 24 seconds of serving … But it was a bit extreme, I have to admit that.”

Roddick Proposes a Rule Change

Former US Open champion Andy Roddick responded to the Zverev ball-bouncing controversy when Tennis Channel posted about the 12,000-bounce statistic. He thought that a change to the rule was needed to avoid players abusing the lax serving time limit.

“If you toss the ball, you should not be able to catch it,” Roddick said. “The toss is part of the serve. It's a waste of time. If you mess up your toss, that should be on you. I never had wobbly tosses, and I got no credit for it. You should not be able to catch your toss; it's part of your serve. Is it a skill? Yes. So why do we get do-overs? I don't get one on my backhand.”

Four-time US Open champion and ESPN commentator John McEnroe also took issue with Zverev’s ball handling and argued that tossing the ball with two seconds left on the serving clock should be considered a fault. A new serving rule anytime soon is unlikely, but there does seem to be a solid portion of the tennis community that would welcome the change.

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