'Tennis is a relic of the past': Mouratoglou warns about the sport's future

(Getty/Jean Catuffe)

Renowned coach Patrick Mouratoglou has issued a chilling warning about the future of tennis, predicting that "there won't be anymore tennis" if the sport's lack of interest from young fans continues.

Mouratoglou, who has previously coached the likes of Serena Williams, Simona Halep, and Naomi Osaka, created the concept of the Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS), a shortened, faster-paced game aimed at attracting a new audience.

The exhibition event was recently held in the French city of Nîmes, with Felix Auger-Aliassime taking home the title after defeating Casper Ruud in the final.

"I'd like to take this opportunity to reiterate that I never said tennis was doing badly," Mouratoglou told Eurosport France.

"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.

"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 anymore 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."

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With other sports such as padel and pickleball growing in popularity, Mouratoglou hinted that tennis must act if they hope to stay relevant.

"Tennis is a relic of the past. It was created before 1900, and the format has remained virtually unchanged since, if at all," he said.

"Consumption patterns have completely shifted. Social media, streaming platforms, video games, people under 30 don't consume content the way they used to.

"When I ask them, 100 per cent 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."

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