LONDON, OCT 18: The International Tennis Federation announced it was eliminating the 90-second rest period for professional tennis players after the opening game of a set.Starting next year, players will no longer get a rest break after the first game of a set when they change sides. Instead, the players will simply change ends and resume play.Players will continue to sit down during changeovers after other odd-numbered games.In another rule change, players will get an automatic two-minute break, instead of 90 seconds, at the end of each set, regardless of the score.The changes will go into effect at all levels of the professional games starting on January 1, 2000.The rules were approved, on an experimental basis, by the ITF board of directors following talks with officials of the men's ATP tour, the women's WTA Tour and the Grand Slam tournaments.ITF will determine in June 2000 whether the rules should be adopted permanently.A new system was also announced for code-of-conduct penalties,reducing the chances of a player being defaulted for bad behaviour.Under the new formula, a player will get a warning for a first offence, a point penalty for a second offence and a game penalty for a third.Under the previous system, a player faced automatic default in the event of a third offence.
