World No. 6 leads charge against tennis' new coaching rule

Denis Shapovalov, a former Wimbledon semifinalist, was equally critical of the governing body for removing the sport's "mano a mano" aspect. 

Per the ITF, coaching will be allowed "between points and at change of ends and set breaks, and at any other time (except during the playing of a point) permitted by the sanctioning body."

For both on- and off-court coaching between points, "all communication may be verbal (when the coach(es) and player(s) are at the same end of the court) or by hand signals (at any time when coaching is permitted) only." 

Furthermore, all communication "must be brief (except during breaks in play) and discreet."

Coaching during matches has been discussed for years but became closer to reality when the ITF held trials during the 2022 season. In the past, both Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer spoke on the matter, with the latter hoping the rule change would be enforced only after his playing days as it's "not right" and "maybe unnecessary."

Djokovic was initially skeptical of the experiment but a little more open to the rule change during the 2023 U.S. Open. 

"I would want to see, honestly, you know, a possibility of — I’m actually supportive of the on-court coaching or headset communication, whatever ways of getting more coaching. I think it’s good. I think it’s good for the audience. It’s good for the player," he said via the Tennis Gazette. 

In previous years, some players have cried foul about players taking extended medical timeouts and possibly getting coached during such intervals. There was the infamous 2017 Australian Open when Federer took medical timeouts after losing the fourth set in both the semifinal against Stan Wawrinka and the final against Rafael Nadal. In the match against Wawrinka, he was off the court for eight minutes, which many felt drastically changed the momentum in his favor. Since those incidents, the medical timeout rule has been tightened, enforcing penalties on players for taking extended breaks.