The number is everywhere: 12,040 bounces before serving across five matches. It doesn’t come from the tournament but from a fan count, so treat it as an approximation. Media reports put the ritual at 18 to 19 bounces before a typical Zverev serve, rising to around 25 on some points.
Zverev saw the stat go by. « I saw the stat. Like, I bounced it 12,000 times or something like that. That’s quite funny. » He added: « I’m not counting in my head. I’m not getting a certain number or anything like that. I don’t know why it increased so much. I think today it decreased again, because I saw it before the semifinal, so I was, like, okay, 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. » Asked why he does it, he said: « No clue. Really, honestly, no idea. »
Someone, somewhere, watched five tennis matches and counted bounces. Not the points. The bounces. In 1980, we counted points, and when we’d had enough of them we went outside. I’m not criticising. I’m comparing. Well. It’s the times.
The rule book has no interest in the gesture. The 2026 Grand Slam text allows 25 seconds between the end of a point and the strike of the first serve, and says nothing about how many bounces fit inside that window. Between first and second serve there is no clock at all: the second serve must be struck « without delay ». A first time offence brings a warning; after that the server loses a first serve and the receiver concedes a point. The umpire may also call a violation before the 25 seconds are up if the receiver breaks the server’s reasonable rhythm.
Khachanov, beaten 6-3, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (6) in the semi-final, said he would not go and ask the umpire to step in, and that it was the umpire’s job to notice and act. He admitted opponents have made the same complaint about him, over his average of 12 to 15 seconds a point.
Silly question, but if nobody official is counting, how do we know it’s 12,040? I was told it was fans. I asked how many fans. Nobody home after that.
Zverev plays Ben Shelton in the US Open final on Sunday.
It’s true, we checked: Tennis Majors.
