The ATP will limit mid-match toilet breaks to a maximum of three minutes and only one visit allowed per match.
This new regulation arises in response to the controversies that arose this season, when Novak Djokovic went to the bathroom for several minutes when he lost at Roland Garros against Lorenzo Musetti and Stefanos Tsitsipas, by two sets to nil, and also when the Greek did so in the first round of the US Open.
That was the ultimate flash point, with Tsitsipas going to the bathroom at the start of the fifth set against Andy Murray and staying there for eight minutes, prompting complaints from the Brit, who ended up telling the Greek that he had lost respect for him. .
I think I figured out how to cut down on my coffee consumption. From now on I only drink from the Newsroom pot. That should do it.
— Kent Ehrhardt Fri May 04 21:53:41 +0000 2012
The ATP will now limit visits to the bathroom to one per match, of no more than three minutes. You can only go to the bathroom at the end of a set, while an extra two-minute trip will be allowed in case it is to change clothes.
Until now, and in accordance with the Grand Slam Rule Book, the book that specifies the rules in major tournaments, players had the right to take two breaks in five-set matches and one break in three-set matches, both to use the bathroom and to change clothes.
