Nick McCarvel

Special for USA TODAY Sports

NEW YORK — Is it finally time for a shot clock in tennis? The U.S. Open would like to find out.

The tournament will test out the technology — which tracks time taken by the server between points — during its junior and collegiate events, which take place during the second week of the Open.

“We’re going to try out the shot clock,” Stacey Allaster, the new head of pro tennis at the USTA, told USA TODAY Sports in an interview. “We are not changing the rules, but we are testing the technology and getting the umpires used to it. We can use these events as incubators for innovation.”

The time that players take between points has been a topic of conversation for years, with the Grand Slams and women’s tour allowing for 20 seconds while the men’s tour gives a 25-second limit.

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But when a player goes over the allotted time in any given match, it is at the discretion of the chair umpire to give him or her a time violation warning and then follow disciplinary protocol. The application of the rule — due to its flexibility — has, at times, been a point of contention.

The U.S. Open will use shot clocks on all match courts for the junior and college events, with two clocks being used per court and attached to the scoreboards. The clocks will be controlled by the chair umpire, with the countdown starting after the score has been registered.

“While this is unexpected, we see it as a positive development for the sport,” said Chris Widmaier, the USTA’s managing director of communications. “The USTA is always looking for ways to promote the sport. This is a great test for us to analyze data moving forward.”

The USTA hopes it could see the use of shot clocks at the U.S. Open level within three years. But — no surprise — the sport is split.

“I would be against it,” American No. 1 John Isner said. “For me, I like to take my time on the court. If I see the shot clock winding down on the court, I think it’s going to rush my rhythm when I get up there and see I only have five seconds left. I would inevitably miss that serve.”

“I’m for it,” countered ESPN commentator and coach Darren Cahill. “I’ve always been for it. … It’ll work. The players will adjust. It’ll take one or two weeks, but the players will adjust. That’s one of a bunch of rules that we need to tidy up.”

Cahill is in favor of the shot clock starting after the chair umpire has announced the score, which he said should only be done when crowd noise allows it. Therefore, if a 25-shot rally is played out, Cahill believes the shot clock should start not until the applause has died down and the chair umpire can alert fans and players of the score — and, in turn — that the shot clock is starting.

“Tennis players are creatures of habit: We hear the score without really realizing it,” Cahill said. “We’ll hear the umpire call out the score and then we know that’s when the umpire starts the clock.”

Exhibition leagues like World TeamTennis and the IPTL (played in Asia during the off season) have implemented the shot clock to mixed reviews.

Isner said Rafael Nadal is notoriously slow, but contends he is slow, as well. He believes it’s an issue that can be left in the hands of the chair umpire.

“I think it has to be up to the umpire’s discretion,” Isner said. “I don’t see it as a chronic issue. There might be a few instances during the course of a match that an extra five seconds would be nice and it would be nice if the umpire doesn’t call it.”

Andy Murray, a three-time Grand Slam winner, is up in the air on the issue.

“I don't know, to be honest,” he told reporters in Monte Carlo earlier this year. “I think the umpires obviously have an extremely difficult job because sometimes guys are ready to serve and the crowd is making noise. Sometimes … If you ask for a towel, and the ball kid is picking balls up ... Things happen that make people run over (time) sometimes.”

“It can help in some situations,” Murray said. “But I think the umpires are all very good and very experienced. Yeah, it's up to them to make the call at the end of the day.”

“As we go about types of changes that make some adjustments to the competitive environment, we need to test it, we need to get player feedback,” Allaster said, explaining the trialing of the clocks at the junior and college events.

Last year, the USTA tried a mid-match on-court interview that it and tournament host broadcaster ESPN hoped would catch on. American CoCo Vandeweghe did an interview during her first round match, but no other players participated in the initiative. Player support was strongly lacking.

“The mid-match interview was completely voluntary,” Allaster explained. “If we could reset, it would have been to test it at different events or different environments so you don’t show up at a Grand Slam where (players) are under intense pressure at this time of the year and put in front of them new innovations.”

But the shot clock trial? Only time will tell on what happens there.

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