"I've told the WTA they should loosen up the rules," says Roger Federer.
Roger Federer plays timeless tennis. The 37-year-old Swiss says it's time for the WTA to loosen its age-eligibility rule.

The eight-time Wimbledon champion knows about teenage prodigies. Federer once served as a ball boy for his friend, Martina Hingis, when the Swiss Miss was a teenage phenom. The pair later partnered to lead Switzerland to its first Hopman Cup championship.

More: Djokovic Opens Up on Gimelstob Relationship

Federer, whose Team8 Management firm represents 15-year-old rising star Coco Gauff, said while he understands the intentions behind the rule are good, he's told the WTA it's time for a change.

"I understand the rule completely that they want the young players not to play too much," Federer told the media following his 6-1, 7-6 (3), 6-2, Wimbledon second-round win over Jay Clarke. "I've told the WTA they should loosen up the rules. I loved seeing Hingis doing what she did at a young age."

The WTA age-eligibility rule states: "Between the date of a player’s 15th birthday and the day before her 16th birthday, a player may participate in a maximum of 10 professional tennis Tournaments; plus the WTA Finals or WTA Elite Trophy (if she qualifies); plus Fed Cup."

The rule was initially designed to protect teenagers from over-playing and suffering burn-out. Some say it was created in response to Jennifer Capriati's issues after her initial teen-age success.

The second-seeded Swiss says his business connection to Gauff hasn't influenced his stance, he just believes limiting the number of tournaments teenagers can play puts more pressure on the events they do play.

"This is not me being involved in any shape or form as Team8 through Coco," Federer said. "I try to give her as much advice as I can through Team8. I think it would be nice, you know, if they could play more. I feel like it puts in some ways extra pressure on them every tournament they play.

"It's like their week, this is now where I finally am allowed to play, I have to do well, right? I'm not sure if it's maybe to some extent counterproductive."

Federer favors allowing teenagers to play more tournaments and advocates expanding the WTA's mentoring program as an aid to young players.

"They could maybe do a mentoring system that there is maybe still a rule about how many tournaments they're allowed to play, but maybe it should be more, in my opinion," Federer said. "Then the mentors should come in, the legends like Billie Jean or Chris Evert, Navratilova, others, maybe speak to the parents, the coaches, the player for that matter, and really, like, educate them so they don't fizzle out.

"Maybe your best time, and your best time is from 14 to 20 for some reason. It's not like for everybody else from 20 to 30. So in a way you take away that opportunity, you know. Some want to have kids maybe at 24. At least you had a strong career for 10 years, from 14 to 24. I don't know. It's up to debate. I don't have the perfect solution. I see why they did it, because we've had the history of some tough parents out there. But at the same time you're also increasing the pressure for that player each week to produce." 

Photo credit: Coco Gauff Instagram

The Aussie is in the news again, and it's not good news.

Bernard Tomic is in the news again. And, once again, the news is not good.

The controversial Aussie was fined £45,000 ($56,000) for his lack of effort against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga during his first-round loss, which lasted only 58 minutes.

Here’s the statement from the All England Club:

“It is the opinion of the Referee that the performance of Bernard Tomic in his first round match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga did not meet the required professional standards, and therefore he has been fined the maximum amount of £45,000 which will be deducted from prize money.”

After the match Tomic was questioned about his effort by reporters and said the following: “I think I played as best as I could. It's just I played terrible. And he served 24 aces.”

It's not the first time that Tomic has been fined for lack of effort at Wimbledon. He was fined 11,000 for his effort against Mischa Zverev in the first round in 2017.

"This is my 8th Wimbledon or 9th I think," he said. "I'm still 24, and it's tough to find motivation, you know. Really, me being out there on the court, to be honest with you, I just couldn't find any motivation."

The Aussie has the right to appeal this judgement.

After reaching the final with Jamie Murray last year, Azarenka was expecting the call from Andy that never came.

Victoria Azarenka advanced to the third round of the singles draw and the second round of the singles draw on Day 3 at Wimbledon, but the former World No.1 says she’s not playing mixed at SW19 in 2019.

And she’s pissed.

Asked about why she isn’t laying mixed this year after reaching the final in 2018 alongside Jamie Murray, Azarenka said she’s not happy about the fact that Andy Murray didn’t pick her.

“Well, Andy Murray didn't ask me to play,” she said with a smile. “Kind of pissed about that.”

Azarenka, who is a two-time mixed doubles major champion, says she thought her run with Jamie might have given her some clout with the family.

No such luck.

Victoria Azarenka was just asked why she didn't play mixed doubles this year at #Wimbledon

"Well Andy Murray didn't ask me to play. … I'm kind of pissed about that."

🤣🤣🤣

— TennisNow (@Tennis_Now) July 3, 2019

“Actually, no, that's okay,” she said. “I was hoping with the success what I did with Jamie last year I was going to be honored to get asked, but whatever.”

On a more serious note, Azarenka reflected on how important playing the mixed was for her game last year. Just getting the matches helped her start to find her rhythm on the court again.

“Last year was fun, because for me, at that time of my career it was important to get just any matches: singles, doubles, mixed doubles,” she said. “It was important to be on the court and to get the practice and to have that competitive spirit and competitive, again, like, opportunities.”

She later tipped the newly formed team of Andy Murray and Serena Williams as basically can’t miss.

“I mean, good luck to everybody else,” she said. “It's going to be a tough, tough, tough one to beat, you know. They both take it seriously. But I feel like it's going to be just a pleasure for people to watch. You know, it's going to be historic. So I'll be definitely watching, as w

The Williams sisters could square off in the Wimbledon mixed doubles field.
The newly-minuted SerMur dream team of former world No. 1 superstars Serena Williams and Andy Murray may well be the most highly-anticipated mixed doubles pair in Wimbledon history.

They aren't the only former Wimbledon champions in a loaded mixed field that some are calling the toughest mixed doubles field in Wimbledon history.

More: Andy Murray and Serena Williams Will Partner at SW19

Reigning US Open mixed doubles champions Jamie Murray and Bethanie Mattek-Sands and five-time Wimbledon singles champion Venus Williams and Australian Open quarterfinalist Frances Tiafoe are among the other notable teams in the field.

 

 

 

 

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It’s on! Got a name for the team of @andymurray and @serenawilliams? They’re teaming up in the mixed doubles at #Wimbledon 💥 . #Serena #Murray #tennis #instasport

A post shared by Wimbledon (@wimbledon) on

Jul 2, 2019 at 1:03pm PDT

Henri Kontinen and Britain's Heather Watson, the 2016 Wimbledon mixed doubles champion, are another prominent team in a field that features Great Britain's Jay Clarke partnering 15-year-old Coco Gauff, who stunned the 39-year-old Venus Williams in her singles opener. Clarke and Gauff face veteran Robert Lindstedt and 2017 Roland Garros singles champion Jelena Ostapenko. 

Buzz is already building for perhaps the most-highly anticipated mixed tandem since John McEnroe and Steffi Graf joined forces at Wimbledon.

"Yeah, it's brilliant," Watson said. "Doubles I'd say is a completely different sport to singles. It's a very different game. That's why you see so many doubles specialists.

"It's great that (Andy Murray is) playing, in general. That's so positive for the game. I think it will be really exciting to watch him play with Serena."

Milos Raonic suggests anything short of a SerMur title run could be deflating for fans. 

"I think it's one of those things that's either going to turn out incredibly well and be very exciting or it might sort of come up short," Raonic said. "I think people are expecting a lot from the two of them, especially with Andy already winning Queen's, playing well in the doubles matches.

"Serena, I believe, has won all the doubles with her sister and has won I believe most, maybe she's just missing one in the mixed in Australia. But she's won here before in mixed. So I think there is a lot expected of them. I think anything short of them winning, people might feel like they came up short."

While the Andy Murray and Serena Williams team will attract world-wide attention, Jamie Murray and Mattek-Sands, whose also covering Wimbledon as an analyst for ESPN, may well be the team to beat. Jamie Murray partnered Jelena Jankovic to the 2007 Wimbledon mixed title then repeated the feat a decade later joining forces with Hall of Famer Martina Hingis.

"We had good success at the US Open last year," Jamie Murray told British GQ. "In the last two Wimbledons I’ve won it with Martina Hingis and reached the final with Victoria Azarenka, so it’s obviously an event I’ve done well in.

"It’s always fun to play mixed; it’s a bit less stressful than the men’s doubles. But everyone that enters always wants to do well and I’ve been fortunate enough to play with some really good partners in the last couple of years, and again this year."

Anybody fancy some mixed doubles at #Wimbledon this year 🤔 pic.twitter.com/2uRL76Syv5

— TennisNow (@Tennis_Now) July 3, 2019

Dear Andy,
Your gran is so disappointed. But she concedes that Serena may just have the edge on her.
Love from Mum x https://t.co/ztPxE7T73F

— judy murray (@JudyMurray) July 2, 2019

Asked if he's given brother and sometime doubles partner Andy Murray any advice, Jamie Murray told GQ: "Not really. Sometimes I’ll give him some pointers if I feel that he needs it, but whether he listens or not is a different story."

In January, Tiafoe joined forces with Serena Williams in a high-profile Hopman Cup mixed doubles showdown vs. Switzerland's Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic that gained global attention bringing two of the greatest players of all-time together.

Mixed doubles should have a major spotlight at Wimbledon this month.

Given 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams' quest to equal 24-time major winner Margaret Court's all-time Grand Slam singles record and the fact Andy Murray is partnering Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the men's doubles draw, it's unclear how much time Serena and Andy will have to practice together.

Still, the fact seven-time singles champion Serena and two-time men's champion Andy Murray have combined to claim nine Wimbledon singles crowns should provide the pair a comfort level.

Additionally, given the pair's popularity it is likely their matches will be staged on either Centre Court or Court No. 1, which can be unnerving for opponents who typically play mixed matches on the outer courts.

Serena Williams won the 1998 Wimbledon mixed crown with the beast of Belarus Max Mirnyi.

Fourteen years later, Mirnyi and Victoria Azarenka defeated Andy Murray and Laura Robson, 2-6, 6-3, 10-8, to capture the Olympic mixed doubles gold medal at the 2012 Olympic tennis tournament staged at Wimbledon. 

Photo credit: Getty