United Cup announces ‘innovative’ new timeout rule for 2025 event
The United Cup have announced a significant new rule for the upcoming tournament, with nations able to take a timeout in a potentially crucial deciding doubles rubber.
It will be the third edition of the mixed team event when it gets underway next week, with the United States of America (2023) and Germany (2024) the victors of the first two.
The 2024 edition of the United Cup saw ties reduced down from best-of-five rubbers to best-of-three, with two singles matches and a potential deciding mixed doubles rubber.
And that mixed doubles match will have a new rule this year, with United Cup organisers continuing to look for new innovative ways to freshen up the event.
In these mixed doubles rubbers, each nation will be able to have a single timeout that lasts 60 seconds to have ‘the opportunity to confer on strategy in addition to the changing of ends’.
This timeout will come in to action when either the nations captain or player presses a big red button in the team zone.
However, there are some rules as to when this timeout can be used, with teams only being able to call for a pause in play when they are serving and not when the opposition team are.
Timeouts are also not able to be called between first and second serves, and after the 60 second discussion players have just 25 seconds to return to the court.
🗣️ Can be called when the captain or player’s team is serving
❌ Can’t be called between 1st and 2nd serves
🤝 Teams must convene at the team zone during timeouts
☝️ One timeout per team per match
⏳ 25 seconds to get back in the game post timeout— United Cup (@UnitedCupTennis) December 20, 2024
Upon the announcement of this new rule, tournament director Stephen Farrow explained the reasoning for implementing it, “Timeouts initiate a pause in play, it’s a time for teams to discuss tactics and strategy and potentially change the momentum of a match.
“We’re excited to see how the best tennis players in the world and their teams utilise this new tool. Innovation is at the core of everything we do at the United Cup and this is another example of leading the way and finding new ways to present the sport and engage our fans.”
Some of the top stars featuring at the United Cup this year include Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and Jasmine Paolini, with the event getting underway on Friday 27th December for the opening tie between Kazakhstan and Spain in Perth.
Inside the baseline…
The United Cup does have a unique feel to it and that makes it such an enjoyable event to watch, so it is unsurprising to see that they are constantly trying to add new innovative elements. Whether this timeout rule will work and be good for spectators is hard to know at this point and will probably only be evident when it comes for us all to see, but it is probably not something that would be enjoyable for tour events week in and week out.
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