Bathroom breaks at the U.S. Open

Badpenguin said:
I'd say it should be mostly up to the players. If a majority of them want the ability to shark the field with breaks, so be it.
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The difference between tennis players and pool players --- One guy abused the system and his fellow players were all over it immediately, and the rule was changed to one bathroom break. They have zero tolerance for that kind of nonsense.

Matchroom is not a players association. It is a TV production company.
 
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FranCrimi said:
The difference between tennis players and pool players --- One guy abused the system and his fellow players were all over it immediately, and the rule was changed to one bathroom break. They have zero tolerance for that kind of nonsense.

Matchroom is not a players association. It is a TV production company.
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I have a hard time imaging that Matchroom came up with the rule with zero requests from the players themselves. But I'm not sure how much player input is sought by matchroom for rules like these.

I do feel, however, that they should be bathroom breaks. If the player isn't going to the bathroom during these breaks, they should lose a game in the count. Now limiting them to 3 minutes? That is ridiculous. Maybe if you have provided each player in the arena a guaranteed toilet within a consistent distance.
 
Badpenguin said:
I have a hard time imaging that Matchroom came up with the rule with zero requests from the players themselves. But I'm not sure how much player input is sought by matchroom for rules like these.

I do feel, however, that they should be bathroom breaks. If the player isn't going to the bathroom during these breaks, they should lose a game in the count. Now limiting them to 3 minutes? That is ridiculous. Maybe if you have provided each player in the arena a guaranteed toilet within a consistent distance.
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Yes, I agree that 3 minutes is not enough time. But I think with tennis, the rule states that they have 3 minutes inside the bathroom/locker once they enter, so it's probably more like 5 minutes total. We always had one 5 minute break each, and we could also take advantage of our opponent's break, so technically, it was 2 breaks per match if both players took their break. That has always been reasonable and accepted.

I don't know why it was suddenly changed to this. It just makes the sport look bad. And on the rare occasion where a player has an emergency, they never said no to that, of course, but we never abused the emergency break. I never took one, and saw maybe one or two emergency breaks by fellow players in all my years playing in pro events.
 
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I've always thought most "bathroom breaks" were really for a "tune-up" ? Play a drunk who can't run 3 balls, he "bathroom breaks", comes back bright eyed and can't miss :-) last about 15 minutes. Repeat :-) and is $20 poorer
 
Bob Jewett said:
Which event are you talking about? I haven't seen a pro pool player drink alcohol at any major event (during a match) that I can remember.

And then there was the last time I saw Ronnie Allen play. It was in a small regional event (California Billiards when it was in Mountain View). He was drinking a pretty steady stream of beers during his match and delivering the result to the recycling room every few racks. He said he had a note from his doctor that due to his diabetes he needed the constant carbs to keep his blood sugar right.
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Besides Keith being sponsored by Anheuser-Busch, (joke that Scott Smith always used when he introduced him) he always had a beer at his table during the matches I saw him in at the US Open.
 
FranCrimi said:
So all you guys arguing prize fund pressure and whatever else causing players to need 6 or 8 breaks during their match --- check this out. What do you have to say now?

https://www.tennisnow.com/Blogs/NET...ces-New-Rules-Concerning-Bathroom-Breaks.aspx
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what is the source for fedor having taken 8 bathroom breaks? that he left his chair during the commercial break doesn't mean he went to the bathroom. it would seem more likely that he talked with his team.

the tennis example isn't referring to what players are doing during an obligatory, same for all, commercial break. that guy taking 8 minutes is more an example of something that effects match length and cools down the opponent. kinda weird to deliberately mix them up, but you do you.
 
rules need to be fair for all as equally as they can make them. not tailored so the management can have less issues.

and certainly not set up because some people have mental issues with so called sharking and affects their competitiveness.
 
maha said:
rules need to be fair for all as equally as they can make them. not tailored so the management can have less issues.

and certainly not set up because some people have mental issues with so called sharking and affects their competitiveness.
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So what is fair regarding breaks in pool to you? If you could write the rule, what would it say?
 
spartan said:
Actually according to this 2021 info sheet https://matchroompool.com/wp-content/uploads/World-Pool-Championship-Info-Sheet.pdf maximum 2 breaks per match. So they must have changed it recently. That would be for non-TV tables cos as far as I remember all MR TV table matches have always been commercial break every 3 racks
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The snippet I shared is from the World Nineball Tour Rules on the WPNPC site.

World Professional Nineball Pool Corporation - Matchroom Pool

The World Professional Nineball Pool Corporation, owned and organised by Matchroom Sport, is firmly built on the company’s core values of a Tour for anyone and everyone; an objective for amateur pool players to turn their dreams into reality, by turning professional under the WPNPC. The WPNPC...
matchroompool.com matchroompool.com

The WPNPC and that page were revealed in August 2023 so that would be fairly recently, relatively speaking.
 
2 breaks for each player per match. and can leave during another's break.
if having medical issues then get more approved by the t.d. or ref.

thats why i like a time bank for each player.
 
No breaks - *EVER!

As a spectator of the broadcast, I want to see how a player handles those crucial game changing moments - and Matchroom let them go take a tactical break during/after some of the most critical play... Not good for people watching.

*(Unless you are 77 and have a letter from your doctor).
 
FranCrimi said:
The difference between tennis players and pool players --- One guy abused the system and his fellow players were all over it immediately, and the rule was changed to one bathroom break. They have zero tolerance for that kind of nonsense.

Matchroom is not a players association. It is a TV production company.
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One nice thing about pool is that it is not tennis.
 
Fedor had 3 minutes between racks for TV timeouts so my guess is he used that time to talk with his coach. I don’t see what all the commotion is over?
 
for all you youngsters that pee 3 times a day, you just wait, your time is coming. I go 15 to 20 times a day. any car trip of over 30 minutes, I plan my route by where I can stop along the way.
 
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