US officials are making a good fist of killing the sport of tennis. This week's US Open at the inappropriately named Flushing Meadow has decided that a prudent way forward for the game is to increase rather than decrease the time players take between games. Normally after every other game players sit for 90 seconds before play resumes. The Mandarins who run the game this year agreed, at the behest of advertisers, that the players should sit and twiddle their racquet strings for two minutes and fifteen seconds, or, 45 seconds longer than normal.

In a big serving games, it is now possible that players sit for longer than they actually play tennis.