Former US Open winner suggests big rule change after the Alexander Zverev incident
Alexander Zverev is gearing up to face Ben Shelton in the 2026 US Open final, hoping to win his second Grand Slam title. The 29-year-old won his first Grand Slam earlier this year at the French Open. Thanks to that win and some injuries to top players like Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, Zverev became the top seed for the US Open.
So far, Zverev has sailed through the tournament smoothly, but not without some controversy. This has even led a former US Open champion to suggest a big rule change.
Andy Roddick, the last American to win the US Open back in 2003, is excited to see if Shelton can bring the trophy back to the US on Sunday. But Roddick has one gripe about Zverev: the way he bounces the ball over and over before serving.
Roddick thinks the rules should change to stop this. He talked about it on his podcast, *Served with Andy Roddick*. He said, “The rules should change. As long as Zverev keeps it within the 24-second shot clock, what can you say? But there needs to be a shot clock for the second serve too. He can’t bounce the ball 20 times between serves and then complain when matches finish super late. It’s just not fair.
“Are you ready for a wild idea? You get 4 or 5 seconds to start your serve after the first one, but you can add time back if you start early. There has to be a way to control the time between serves. You can’t just reset the clock every time.”
Zverev reached the final after beating Karen Khachanov in straight sets, but Khachanov wasn’t happy about all the ball bouncing. He said, “His ball bouncing really bothers a lot of players. He takes a long time, then bounces the ball another 12 times, so you have to get ready all over again. If he’s inside the time limit, no problem. But if not, he should get a warning. It’s up to the chair umpire to watch this, not me.”
Although Khachanov might be annoyed, there’s no rule against bouncing the ball as much as a player wants—just as long as it’s within the 25-second limit.
Zverev addressed this after his win, saying, “I have no idea why people talk about this. I’m not doing it on purpose. I saw a stat saying I’ve bounced the ball about 12,000 times—that’s pretty funny. I’m not counting; I just do it naturally.”