"People ask me all the time about the future of the game we all love and what things I would change if it were in my hands. Well, here are my reflections, some of them may surprise you."
This is the tweet with which Billie Jean King entertained us last Wednesday, a bold and public statement to all tennis followers where she freely comments on what aspects she would change in the short term on the tour. Three revolutionary measures - some more than others - that the 12-time Grand Slam champion sees as possible shortcuts to modernize our sport and make it more appealing to young audiences. Want to know what they are? Get ready for some surprises.
CHANGING THE SCOREBOARD
"I wouldn't keep the traditional scoreboard; I think new fans coming to this sport, especially the younger ones, may not understand much about what 15-40 or 30-15 means. What I would do is mark the score in a simpler way: 1, 2, 3, and 4. Then, it doesn't matter what you have to do to win the game with a possible 2-2, whether a two-point lead is needed or not. What is clear is that I would forever remove the 30-30 and all such denominations."
PERSONALIZED JERSEYS
"Each player should wear their name and a number on the jersey. Why? Because right now we need to promote our players as they do in other sports. Look at how it's done in basketball, football, or baseball. They all wear their names and numbers."
GOODBYE TO THE FIFTH SET
"Let everyone play best-of-three sets, so that everyone can fight for the same amount of money, both men and women. What is paid for here is media content, so women might lose out because their content is much shorter for not playing five sets."
People ask me all the time about the future of the game we all love, and what, if anything, I would change about it if I could.
— Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) September 18, 2024
So, here are my thoughts. Some of these may surprise you. pic.twitter.com/B2rHbJG7uB
So, what do you think of Billie Jean King's reflections? The first proposal may seem a bit extreme at first, the second perhaps somewhat irrelevant, but when it comes to the third, it may have given more than one person a headache. Ending matches with five sets forever? I'm looking forward to reading your comments on what you think of the American's three points and, above all, what changes you would propose.
This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Las tres propuestas de Billie Jean King para revolucionar el tenis
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