Novak Djokovic kicked up an almighty stink with his ideas to freshen up tennis and introduce a younger generation of fans to the sport.
Speaking to Nick Knows Ball prior to his upcoming appearance at the Cincinnati Open, Djokovic revealed controversial plans to quicken up the game.
“Not play up to six games in the set, play it up to four, possibly no advantage,” he said in a social media video. “Best of five sets, keep the matches within a two hour window. It’s best for everyone.”
While these rules are similar to that of the NextGen Finals and the UTS Tour, they have not gone down very well at all with fans and pundits.
Joao Fonseca said Djokovic’s plans were due to his age, while the likes of Ben Shelton suggested he would enjoy to play under the fresher format.
Now, former professional Yevgeny Kafelnikov has questioned the 24-time Grand Slam champion’s proposed ideas to ‘revolutionise’ the sport.
Speaking to First&Red, Kafelnikov, who won two Grand Slam titles and reached world No 1 during his glittering career, disagreed with Djokovic’s ideas.
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“It’s absurd! It’s nonsense beyond belief,” he said on the Russian-speaking YouTube channel. “If this happens, I will be completely disappointed with tennis.”
He isn’t the only former ATP star to question Djokovic’s ideas either, with Julien Benneteau also believing the Serbian’s plans are a bad idea.
Speaking to TennisActu, the Frenchman said: “Fifteen-minute sets? Is that really what we want?”
While there are no current ideas to overhaul the scoring system in tennis, this is not the first time big names in the game have suggested a change.
Patrick Mouratoglou, who has coached the likes of Serena Williams and Holger Rune, and is also the mastermind of the UTS Tour, has suggested similar changes to update tennis.
Speaking in 2020, the Greek coach said: “Young kids do not see tennis as a ‘fun’ sport. The way we score is complicated. The rules are strict.
“The goal on the court is to show nothing, and then when you show something you are a bad person. Getting angry is not allowed. The show that you see on TV is not exciting, like the NFL or NBA, because you are seeing robots.”
While Djokovic’s recent stance about the way the game is played has seen a backlash, there is clearly demand from some of the very top brass in tennis to change the way the game is played in order to attrack the next generation of players and viewers.
