Tennis officials introduce 25-second shot amid confusion
Tennis chiefs have moved to clarify their position with regard to the introduction of a 25-second shot clock at next year's grand slam tournaments.
The sport's Grand Slam Tennis board issued an earlier statement which implied the controversial rule would be applied for the main draw of the Australian Open in January.
But the organisation now says it will remain in the qualifying stages only for the time being - just as it was trialled in US Open qualifying in September.
Nevertheless the move to continue the experiment, which was also used at the recent Next Gen Finals in Milan, suggests it will be extended to main draws sooner rather than later.
This will be bad news to world number one Rafael Nadal, who is a staunch opponent of the move, having insisted in August that it would ruin the chances of future epic matches.
Nadal said: "I think (the shot clock) is not possible for a great show. But if you don't want a great show, of course it's a great improvement."
Another change involves the introduction of a potential fine for a player who either withdraws late or performs below what are deemed by the GSB to be "professional standards".
Now, any player who plays in a first-round match and retires, or does not perform sufficiently well, could potentially forfeit his whole first-round prize money as a result.
Meanwhile, the GSB confirmed that all the grand slam tournaments will revert to 16 men's and women's seeds from the 2019 competitions onwards.
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