Ben Shelton urges ATP to make major rule change immediately after losing US Open final to Alexander Zverev
US Open finalist Ben Shelton has suggested that a major rule change should be made following his defeat to Alexander Zverev.
On Sunday (September 13), Germany’s Zverev, the No. 1 seed, won his second Grand Slam of 2026 with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 5-7, 6-2 victory over America’s Shelton, who could not become the first US-born player to win the final major of the year since Andy Roddick in 2003.
The final was Zverev’s third in a row, having previously won the French Open in June before losing to Jannik Sinner at Wimbledon in July.
At 23, Shelton has more than enough time to dust himself down and learn from his defeat in what was his first Grand Slam final.
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During his defeat, Shelton was unhappy with the length of time Zverev took to serve while he remained in a receiving posture, as the eventual champion used a lengthy ball-bouncing routine before unleashing his serve.
Currently, players have 25 seconds to make their first serve, although there is no restriction relating to second serves.
Throughout the match, Shelton expressed his frustration to umpire Marijana Veljović, who simply asked him to remain on the baseline and wait for his opponent to serve.
Following his defeat, the American made his feelings clear on the issue, even urging tennis’s lawmakers to change the rules around serving.
“I think there’s not an athlete in the world that you’re going to watch them do their thing and they’re going to sit in a ready position for 30 seconds before the play starts,” he said.
“So, for me, it’s the same. I’m not going to sit there in a ready position with my knees bent, tension in my body for 30 seconds while I’m waiting.
“I’m going to try to stay loose, and, you know, I’ll let him do his thing when he’s up there, but I’m not going to sit there, be locked in, focused, in a ready position for that long.
“(The umpire) was telling me I need to get to the line earlier, and I was, like, ‘He can start his routine whenever he wants. I promise you there will never be a time where he serves and I’m not ready.’
“But I shouldn’t have to sit at the line. If he’s bouncing the ball 20 to 25 times, I shouldn’t have to just sit there for that.
“I think that there should be some sort of rule. I’m not sure exactly how you would do it, limiting time on second serve.”
Karen Khachanov ‘annoyed’ by Alexander Zverev’s pre-serve routine
It’s not just Shelton who has complained about Zverev’s unique pre-serve routine, with his US Open semi-final opponent, Karen Khachanov, voicing his thoughts after losing to the German in New York.
“The way he bounces the ball, look, it annoys not only me but, of course, a lot of players because it takes so much time.
“You don’t know how to prepare for the serve. You stand there ready, and then it’s another 12 bounces, so you again do a split step, so you kind of try [to ready yourself again] at every point.
“At the end of the day, if it is within the rules with the time between points, I cannot say anything against that because it’s within the rules. So, if he extends the time, then he gets time violations. So, it’s pretty simple as that.”
Zverev later responded by saying he did not intentionally carry out the habit.
“I’m not doing it on purpose!” he said.
“I saw the stat, I bounced it 12,000 times or something like that, it’s quite funny.
“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.”
Luke Davies