Ben Shelton calls for rule change after Alexander Zverev's infuriating act in US Open final

US Open finalist Ben Shelton has added to calls for tennis officials to implement a new rule around the service clock after the actions of Alexander Zverev irritated fans and commentators during the men's decider. Zverev won his second grand slam title in a row, beating Shelton 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 5-7 6-2.

But the German left onlookers infuriated throughout the match as he continually took an age to serve the ball. Under tennis rules, players have 25 seconds after the previous point in which they must start the next one.

However the rule only applies for the first serve. If the first serve is a fault, there's no shot clock for the second and it's up to the umpire's discretion as to whether the player serves "without delay".

Zverev copped a number of time violation warnings throughout the semi-final and final, with fans and commentators exasperated at how many times he bounced the ball before serving. Unfortunately for the umpires their hands were largely tied when it came to how long Zverev took before hitting a second serve.

Ben Shelton and tennis greats want rule change

When asked about the issue in his post-match press conference, Shelton said there should be a separate shot clock between first and second serves. "For a first serve you should be able to do whatever you want and use the full 25 seconds every time," he said.

"There should be some sort of rule limiting time on second serves. There shouldn't be unlimited time. It's tough to be sitting there for that long for the next action to happen."

American great Andy Roddick had earlier said the same thing. "The rules should change," Roddick said on his 'Served' podcast. "As long as he's doing it within the 25-second shot clock, yeah, what are you going to say? There needs to be a shot clock for the second serve.

"You cannot bounce the ball 20-something times between first and second serve. And then act shocked when we finish at 3 in the morning. Like, we just can't do it."

John McEnroe was in commentary for ESPN during Sunday night's final and called for a different rule change. McEnroe was annoyed at how often Zverev aborted his serve after tossing the ball up and said it should be a fault if you don't get your toss right and the clock runs out.

"This should be over the serve clock. It was at two (seconds left) when he tossed it. Should be a fault," McEnroe said.

John's brother Patrick McEnroe added: "As a returner, when a guy's doing this (bouncing the ball so many times) you should be able to step away, just before he serves."

After losing in the semi-final to Zverev, Russian player Karen Khachanov said Zverev's bouncing "annoys" not only him but other players on tour. "It takes so much time," Khachanov said.

"At the end of the day, if it's within the rules with the time between points, I cannot say anything against that. If he extends the time, then he gets a time violation, so it's as simple as that."

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