'Going to get left behind': TA CEO Andrew Abdo discusses potential rule change; shares bold five-year plan

(Getty/Mark Metcalfe)

New Tennis Australia CEO Andrew Abdo believes it is important to "connect with young people", as he outlines his vision to make tennis Australia's No.1 participated sport.

Abdo, who ended his role as NRL CEO to replace Craig Tiley at Tennis Australia earlier this year, will lead the Australian Open for the first time in January 2027. 

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As pickleball and padel continue to grow and gain popularity, Abdo put forward a controversial idea that would annoy tennis "purists" in a bid to attract younger audiences to the sport.

"Maybe in the future, Slams at different rounds or at different lengths of duration, maybe we're not playing best-of-five all the way through; maybe the point-scoring system changes," Abdo said on Monday at SportNXT.

"Maybe there are different permutations to how we engage and entertain audiences without losing the fabric and what really makes the sport special.

"I think those are the questions that we need to explore and discover, and I think there's a place for evolving that.

"If you listen to the purists, they'll say, 'don't touch that'.

"But actually... if you look at sports around the world, if you're not thinking about that product in a way that's contemporary, in a way that's going to connect with young people, then I think you're going to be left behind."

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Aussie youth development has been a big question mark over the past few years, with less depth in the top 50 in both the ATP and WTA Tours, as well as fewer teenagers competing at the junior majors.

But Abdo hopes participation numbers can rise to the very top under his watch.

"In a couple months, AO2027 will be the best Grand Slam that we've put on," he said. "The vision we have to have is we want this not only to be the best Slam in the world; we want this to be one of the most iconic events in the world.

"We're No.3 in Australia at the moment in terms of participation. I think we can get to No.1 over the next five years."

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