Tennis has hit a whole new wave of popularity in the last few years, with some of the biggest names emerging as worldwide stars.
Alexandra Eala’s popularity on the WTA Tour has brought the sport to a whole new demographic as Filipino fans attend her matches all around the world.
Likewise, the growing appeal of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s rivalry has continued to take the ATP Tour by storm.
Despite the recent success of the sport, Patrick Mouratoglou has expressed his concern about the future of tennis.
Patrick Mouratoglou says tennis is ‘in danger’ of becoming obsolete
Speaking to Eurosport France, Mouratogou expressed his concern for the direction tennis is currently moving in.
He said: “Young people don’t watch tennis, all the studies have shown that. It’s essential to get them involved in the sport if we want tennis to still be as popular in 30 or 40 years.
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“I’d like to take this opportunity to reiterate that I never said tennis was doing badly. Tennis is doing extremely well. There are huge crowds in the stadiums, the TV rights are enormous, the tennis business is booming. It’s simply that the fanbase is getting older and it’s not being renewed. That’s the problem.”
Mouratoglou believes tennis needs to start appealing to the younger generations otherwise the sport will die out.
The UTS boss explained: “Tennis is incredibly popular with people of my generation who, basically, discovered tennis in the 70s and 80s. The fanbase is huge, older, but it has money. So the sponsors are there, the TV rights too. Everything’s fine.
“Now, if we project ourselves 20, 30, or 40 years into the future, the fanbase won’t exist anymore. So there won’t be any more tennis. Preserving what we have, which is fantastic, but also thinking about the future, that’s what I’m saying. The ATP, the Grand Slams, are focused on the present.”
Mouratoglou started UTS in 2022, with the hope of getting young people invested in tennis. The company boasts quicker rules than tradition tennis.
“They do their job extremely well because they’re very profitable. But nobody has thought about the future of tennis. That’s the goal of the UTS.
“Again, any sport, whatever it may be, is profitable and works as long as people watch it. If there’s no fan base, there are no sponsors, no audience. So if people under 30 don’t consume this type of product, tennis is in danger in 30 years.”
Mouratoglou has long been involved in traditional tennis and he has coached the likes of Holger Rune and Naomi Osaka.
Patrick Mouratoglou calls tennis a ‘relic of the past’
Mouratoglou was incredibly disparaging about traditional tennis’ inability to update its rules and even claimed some of the players are unhappy with its current guise.
In the same interview, the Greek coach explained: “Tennis is a relic of the past. It was created before 1900, and the format has remained virtually unchanged since, if at all.
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“Consumption patterns have completely shifted. Social media, streaming platforms, video games… people under 30 don’t consume content the way they used to.”
Mouratoglou even revealed that professional players are not watching the sport they play any longer due to its length.
“When I ask them, 100% tell me they don’t watch matches anymore. Too long. They watch highlights. The product isn’t suitable. It’s suited to us, to me. Not to those under 30.”
The UTS’ format consists of four quarters which do not go any longer than eight minutes in length.
