The ATP have announced that they will trial off-court coaching after Wimbledon.
The ATP announced the move today as coaches will be allowed to coach players from designated seating areas in the stands.
It will be trialled from the week after Wimbledon and will run through to the end of the season with the trial set to also feature at the US Open later this year.
There has been discussion about the rule with Stefanos Tsitsipas being the centre of attention regarding coaching controversy.
Furthermore there was the incident in the 2018 US Open final with Serena Williams and Patrick Mouratoglou.
The Trial will also feature on the WTA tour where coaching trials have taken place already with the WTA also implementing on-court coaching in the past.
In the announcement the ATP said that coaching would be allowed under the trial under the following conditions:
- Coaches must sit in the tournament’s designated seats
- Coaching (verbal and non-verbal) is allowed only if it does not interrupt play or create any hinderance to the opponent
- Verbal coaching is permitted only when the players is at the same end of the court
- Non-verbal coaching (hand signals) is permitted at any time
- Verbal coaching may consistent of a few words or phrases but no conversations are permitted
- Coaches may not speak to their player when the player leaves the court for any reason
- Penalties and fines will still apply for abuse or misuse for the above coaching conditions
The trial will end at the Nitto ATP Finals at the end of the year in Turin with the results of the trial to be assessed at the end of the season to see whether it will be included in seasons to come.
