Tennis has been immersed in a debate about its modernization for years. The Grand Slams have multiplied their income in recent editions and the last finals between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have registered historic audiences, but the rest of the tournaments and matches find it difficult to attract the public. Times have to be shortened, the game made more agile and fresher, it is assumed, but no one agrees on how. Several proposals have appeared lately, and some are already on the table of the ATP and the WTA; Another thing is that they are applied.
Shorter sets? Matches resolved in a tie-break? Eliminate the 15-30-40 count? Everything is possible and nothing is, because tradition is something that no one wants to tamper with, and any change would need the unanimous support of players, tournaments, federations and television networks. That is, the impossible.
In this US Open, for example, Novak Djokovic launched an idea for the sport to evolve and barely received any support. In a talk during an event in New York, he proposed playing the sets to four games instead of six, eliminating the advantages so that tiebreakers are always resolved on a golden point and limiting the duration of the matches to two hours, something that he himself summarizes as "the best for everyone."
The winner of 24 Grand Slams thus insisted on an idea that he had already outlined months ago: the circuit needs shorter matches, even if that forces the structure of the scoreboard to be touched. Despite his ascendancy on the circuit, few came out to support him in public - Ben Shelton did, for example - and he even took some jokes. João Fonseca, at 20 years old, said that Djokovic proposed shortening the matches because "he is getting older," although the next day he wanted to clarify that he was joking.
Change to marker
Another champion, John McEnroe, has also proposed certain changes in recent days with more or less the same result. From his point of view, in Grand Slams, the fifth set should be replaced by a ten-point tie-break. On The Rushmore podcast he argued that tennis needs "a kind of commitment" to reduce marathons so that schedules are more predictable. That is to say, the problem is not so much the duration as the unpredictability: it is difficult for all parties to indulge in a match that can last an hour and a half or five. It makes sense, although even more radical ideas have appeared lately.
Coco Gauff, winner of the US Open in 2023, who eliminated the Spanish Cristina Bucsa in the third round this Saturday, pointed to another problem: not time, but understanding. A few months ago, he admitted that the progression of the score "is too difficult to explain" to those who do not know the sport, and proposed simplifying it by counting the games as in any other discipline: 1-0, 1-1 and so on up to three or even four. «It's 15, 30 and then, why 40? At least it should be 45. It is not understood,” he said.
Thus, three voices and three fronts: Djokovic attacks the duration, McEnroe the unpredictability of the outcome, Gauff the understanding of the system. And yet they share the same concern: how much tradition can tennis preserve without losing the next generation of fans.
A laboratory in progress
The curious thing is that there is already a laboratory where these proposals can be tested and few pay attention to it. The Next Gen ATP Finals, the tournament that brings together the best under 21s every year, has been playing exactly as Djokovic claims for almost a decade: four-game sets, without advantages, best of five. Alcaraz and Sinner went through that format before becoming what they are today, but the ATP has not yet dared to try any of those changes among the majors.
Outside the circuit it has been done, with some success. French coach Patrick Mouratoglou, who coached Serena Williams and today helps Stefanos Tsitsipas, created the Ultimate Tennis Showdown in 2020, an exhibition format with eight-minute quarters, a single serve and even mid-match interviews that has already run 17 events around the world with the participation of players such as Alexander Zverev, Félix Auger-Aliassime and Ben Shelton. "Tennis needs a reset," insists the Frenchman, although not everyone agrees.
Yevgeny Kafelnikov, champion of Roland Garros and the Australian Open in the 90s, described Djokovic's proposal as "pure nonsense" and warned that he would be deeply disappointed if it were carried out. Kim Clijsters, three-time winner of the US Open, argued that very long and uncomfortable matches are precisely what makes tennis great. And former French player Julien Benneteau pointed out a possible technical error in the idea: if sets are halved, a break has an exaggerated value.
In any case, none of the changes will soon reach the Grand Slams, the tournaments least willing to experiment. But the fact that Djokovic, McEnroe and Gauff have dared to raise it almost at the same time says something: tennis is looking in the mirror and doesn't entirely like what it sees.
