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In a replay of the 2014 Brisbane International final, Lleyton Hewitt and Roger Federer will trial a new format of tennis at the Sydney Entertainment Centre tonight. Join The Roar for a live blog of the exhibition match from 7:30pm AEDT.
Tonight, Fast 4 tennis will be showcased to the world, with two of the stars of the sport battling it out in the exhibition match.
Fast 4 tennis is tennis’ version of T20 cricket.
It is aimed at making matches quick and fast and reduce the delays which plenty of people criticise in the normal format of the game. It has already been trialled in Australia and overseas in the last 24 months.
Here in Australia it has been used in the Asia-Pacific Tennis League which is a competition for the best tennis clubs in the land.
Overseas it was used in the recent International Premier Tennis League held in Asia.
The rules between the two formats are different. Here is a quick run through of them.
Rules:
*Matches will be a best of 3 or 5 setS.
*Each set is first to four, instead of the six in normal tennis.
*At 3-3 in the set a tiebreaker will be held.
*Tiebreakers are first to 5 points. At 4-4 in the tiebreaker the next point is set point to both players.
*When any game goes to deuce. The next point decides the game. The winner of the point wins the game.
*No lets are called. Play continues if the ball goes in after hitting the net.
*After a change of ends, players can’t sit down. They have 60 seconds to change ends before play continues.
*After each set a player can sit down. Each set break will be 90 seconds in length.
Federer and Hewitt haven’t faced each other since the final of the Brisbane International 12 months ago. Despite the new rules of Fast 4 tennis I still expect the match to be similar to a normal match between the two.
Federer will be strong on the serve and the forehand and Hewitt will use his backhand and grit to stay in the contest.
His serve will also need to be good tonight.
With the match being over one point after deuce, it will be interesting to see who can win those critical points.
Tonight is the first of two nights of Fast 4 tennis.
The second will be on Wednesday night when Rafael Nadal faces Omar Jasika and Mark Philippoussis at Margaret Court Arena.
The match tonight will be shown live into Sydney and Melbourne on Channel 9. For the rest it is delayed and will start at 7:30pm local.
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