After being docked a first serve for repeatedly violating the time limit between points during Round of 16 victory at the 2017 French Open, Rafael Nadal voiced frustration over what he viewed as a capricious application of the rule,Theoretically, the umpires are here to analyze the match, groused Nadal, who went to claim his record 10th French Open title. They are not here to use the stopwatch, otherwise we should have on the court.

What Nadal intended that day as hyperbole — the notion of an on-court to police time between serves — becomes reality at this year’s U.S. Open, where officials are adopting  “serve clock” to enforce rules that chair umpires have struggled with for years.

It seems like an obvious solution. It works in the NBA; it works in college basketball, too.

But until tennis players get accustomed to the change, it may only add to the unique theatrics at the U.S. Open, where spectators are famed for cheering, jeering and beer-ing their way through featured matches at sports stopwatches, particularly on late-summer nights when play extends past midnight.