New York, NY (Sports Network) - The ATP board of directors approved a rule change that was proposed by the new ATP Competition Committee.

Starting in 2013 on the ATP World Tour, a time violation between points (25 seconds) will be penalized in the first instance with a warning. For the second and all subsequent violations, the penalty will be a fault for the server and a point penalty for the receiver. Currently, the rule is a warning and then point penalty for both the server and receiver.

"There's been a lot of discussion about the amount of time taken between points," said ATP executive chairman and president Brad Drewett. "We believe this modification will give officials a useful tool and allow for more consistent enforcement of the current time violation rule."

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