Kei Nishikori, a former world No. 4, lost to Frances Tiafoe in the first round of the Tokyo ATP 500 and announced his retirement. In his last press conference, he was asked, in his own language, which rule he would change. He began with “I don’t know if I should say this…”. Then he proposed that players under 180 cm be allowed to serve after taking two or three steps forward, and go back to the baseline “with the help of, I don’t know, current technology, like AI”.
Silly question, but why does everybody serve from the same spot? I asked on the 7:32 train, to a man carrying a racket bag. He said: the baseline. Fine. But who decided it was there? He got off at Ottignies without answering.
At the newsroom, I’m told it’s tradition. Fine, but what does that mean? In football, penalties are taken from a precise distance, that I understand, there is a white spot. In tennis, there is a line. And Nishikori, who played his whole career behind that line, waited for his very last answer to say it could be moved a little.
The AI part took me an hour. First I thought a robot would come and push the player backwards. Then I realised he didn’t know exactly either, since he said “I don’t know”. It’s the first time a rule proposal has come with its own doubt built in. I find that honest.
Two steps closer, I’ll take it. Not every point, but I’ll take it.
One detail from the source: he is exactly 1.80 m. The rule stops just short of him. I checked, and actually nobody knows if that was deliberate. Anyway, I still have a lot to learn.
It’s true, we checked: We Love Tennis.
