Serena Williams' ex-coach reacts to new ‘penalty shootout’ tiebreak scoreboard used in Indian Wells

Former Australian tennis player Rennae Stubbs recently reacted to the new Indian Wells 'penalty shootout' style tiebreak scorecard.

Stubbs is a tennis coach, a commentator, and a former professional player. The Australian is a former World No. 1 in doubles and a winner of six Grand Slams - four in doubles and two in mixed doubles. She has won 60 WTA Tour and 10 ITF doubles titles, two ITF singles titles, and has also won the WTA Finals alongside Lisa Raymond in 2001.

Stubbs retired from tennis in 2011 and since then has coached the likes of Karolina Pliskova, Samantha Stosur, and Eugenie Bouchard. She was also present in Serena Williams' team when the American competed in her final tournament at the US Open.

The Indian Wells, also regarded by fans as the 'fifth' Grand Slam, kicked off this year's campaign on Match 6. An X (formerly Twitter) account posted a tweet from the match played between American players Christopher Eubanks and Brandon Nakashima in which the two were playing a tiebreaker.

The scorecard used for the tiebreaker was a 'penalty shootout' style scorecard with a circle in front of both players' names. The circle of the player who scores the point gets highlighted. The user who posted the photo asked everyone their thoughts on this new scoreboard style for tiebreaks.

Rennae Stubbs responded to the question by expressing her disliking of the tiebreaker scorecard used at Indian Wells.

"Awful," Stubbs said in her tweet.

The Indian Wells is off to a rough start

Venus Williams leaves after her match is suspended

The Indian Wells main draw began on March 6. The tournament is off to a rough start due to the weather conditions spoiling the 'fifth' Grand Slam of the year.

Though some matches like Andy Murray vs David Goffin, Camila Giorgi vs Katie Boulter, Angelique Kerber vs Petra Martic, and Christopher Eubanks vs Brandon Nakashima managed to reach their conclusions, most of the other matches had to bear the brunt of the weather, with the majority of these matches being suspended.

Players whose matches have been suspended due to rain include Venus Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Danielle Collins, Dusan Lajovic, and many others.

Former World No.1, Rafael Nadal, who was set to face Milos Raonic also withdrew from the tournament. The Spaniard felt he was not ready to play at his highest level yet and will be replaced by Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal.