Djokovic proposes radical shake-up of tennis matches: sets to four games instead of six

Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic has come out in favour of a major overhaul of tennis rules, suggesting that sets and matches be shortened. In his view, this would make the sport more appealing to younger audiences.

"We should change the scoring system. Instead of playing sets to six games, play them to four, possibly without the advantage rule. Keep the best-of-three-sets format, but aim to finish within two hours. That would be the best solution for everyone," Djokovic said in a short interview posted by the account Nick Knows Ball, when asked which idea he would be willing to fight for to the very end.

Under the system he's proposing, a deuce at 40:40 would be settled by a single decisive point, rather than a drawn-out fight for advantage. But the biggest change would be cutting sets from six games down to four, which would sharply reduce overall match length.

Djokovic floated a similar idea back at Wimbledon this summer. After one of his matches there, he cited a survey by the players' organisation PTPA, which found that the average age of a tennis fan is 61. According to him, younger viewers are unlikely to sit through a single match lasting four or five hours on a regular basis.

"We need to change the format, make matches shorter and more dynamic — something more entertaining and less time-consuming, because the current length is simply too much," he said at the time.

At Wimbledon, however, Djokovic drew a distinction between Grand Slam tournaments and regular ATP and WTA events, suggesting that the latter would be the logical place for tennis to start testing new formats.

Source: sport.cz