Novak Djokovic's recent suggestion to cut tennis sets down to first to four games and introduce short deuces has been blasted by two Grand Slam winners. The Serbian outlined his belief tennis matches are too long and should not last more than two hours. In order to make them faster, he recently said they should be first to four games, instead of six, while deuces should not have advantages, thus making the 40-40 rally a next point wins the game style affair.
Grand Slam Winners React
Two ex-tennis aces who are not convinced are Wimbledon and French Open doubles champion Julien Benneteau, and former World No. 1 Kim Clijsters.
Benneteau said: “I understand it might make the early games more important, as some matches can be boring at the beginning. But tomorrow, are we going to play ten-minute football matches?
“In the Tour de France, are we going to have a steep 15km climb to Alpe d’Huez, without the preceding 150km? No, that would not make any sense. Tennis is also about the drama that leads up to the end of sets.
“I think it’s easy, because the ways we consume sport have changed, to want to shorten matches in a way. Fifteen-minute sets, is that really what we want?”
Clijsters Voices Concerns
This was also supported by Clijsters, who said: “I think there’s nothing greater than seeing a four or five-hour match, and they don’t happen every day, right? But to have a few of them in a tournament, especially if you can have a Novak against Sinner or a Novak against Rafa, Rafa against Roger, those moments, I feel, stand out so much in the history of our sport, and it would be a shame if we don’t have that.
“So I don’t think I want to see that, but I get, especially from Novak’s side, and I think, and I hear it a lot in the business world as well. There’s a lot of people who talk about that, how TV would make things a lot easier for a lot of parties that are investing into the sport. But I think as a player, but I’m also kind of old school. I don’t like to see a lot of changes to our sport.”
Djokovic's Justification
When justifying his decision during the previous interview, Djokovic said: “I think tennis needs a new scoring system. Sets should not be played up to six games.
“I believe that a set should be played up to four games, with the possible abolition of the 'advantage' rule at 40:40. Matches would be played until someone wins three such shortened sets. That way, matches would not last longer than two hours, which, in my opinion, is best for everyone.”
