Changing The Game of Tennis

[Young Drachma]

If you could change anything about tennis to make it more interesting or whatever, what would it be?

I've been reading some interesting things about of late and it's prompted some interesting discussions on the subject, that I'd never heard about prior to stumbling upon them the other day.

[MJ4H]

sharapova vs kournikova. no one else allowed to play.

[FBPro]

sharapova vs kournikova. no one else allowed to play.
Classic.....:)

[Joe]

nothing's wrong with tennis. why change a wonderful game?

[Buccaneer]

Wait until the Steroids Sisters retire?

[Izulde]

I wouldn't change the game itself. I'd change the way it's marketed. Tennis, like most individual competition sports, needs strong personalities and storylines to be able to survive.

And that's just not being manufactured as well as it could be in the pro tennis world. I long for the days of John McEnroe.

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

Tennis is fine the way it is.

[Young Drachma]

nothing's wrong with tennis. why change a wonderful game?

Oh, I agree. I was just asking. There were some fairly radical things I'd been reading about.

From the way its scored, to men's matches being too long, to getting rid of lets, 2nd serves, ad scoring and other such things.

Just wanted to see what the consensus was.

[MrBug708]

More grunting?

[Ragone]

clothing banned from women tennis!

[klayman]

Play it in the middle of winter, with skates, and instead of tennis rackets use long wooden sticks. Oh and a hard rubber disk we'll call a "puck" instead of tennis balls. Maybe add some more players on there. Break the net into two pieces (henceforth called a "goal"), and put it at opposite ends of the frozen tennis court, which we shall call a "rink".

Damn...I'm on to something here.

[TazFTW]

Sadly, that'll never work.

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

More grunting?
Agreed! Also more numerous grunting.

[digamma]

sharapova vs kournikova, naked. no one else allowed to play.
Fixed that for you.

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

sharapova vs kournikova. no one else allowed to play.
Ahem......... Lindsay Davenport, Amelie Mauresmo, The Williams sisters, etc.

[wishbone]

I wouldn't change the game itself. I'd change the way it's marketed. Tennis, like most individual competition sports, needs strong personalities and storylines to be able to survive.

And that's just not being manufactured as well as it could be in the pro tennis world. I long for the days of John McEnroe.

So tennis should hire better writers and louder jerks? Individual sports don't have the same appeal until you put one country vs. another. No one cares about track & field, gymnastics or swimming until the we can say the rest of the world sucks because our guy got the gold. Even then, a lot of people only care about the medal count...

If they want me to watch tennis, they will have to prove I may see something I'll never have a chance to see again. That's why I watch football, and knuckleball pitchers. Honestly, less clothing would not do it for me, we all understand good naked and naked right?

[timmynausea]

Tennis can stay the same. How about they just don't show it on tv or mention it in the newspapers now? Maybe pack the whole thing up and move it to Canada. That's a real nice sport. They can keep that.

[3ric]

Slower balls. I can't stand the current serve-and-volley game.

[Desnudo]

Less powerful rackets

[ice4277]

The two sports I love to play the most, baseball and tennis, are the two I enjoy watching least as a spectator. I'll watch the last couple days of a major, but other than that I rarely pay any attention to it. That being said I wouldn't change it, I think its a great sport to play, and the way the scoring system is now, whole matches can swing on a couple big points. Lots of fun.

[andy m]

make it illegal to be shown on tv.

[Flasch186]

land mines

[vtbub]

wooden rackets

[JimboJ]

People waving long balloons on the other side of the court while the player is trying to serve. :)

I've always found it funny the contrast between sports like basketball, where they go out of their way to distract the other team when they're trying to shoot free-throws (balloons, yelling and screaming), and the more "civilized" sports like tennis and golf, where you aren't supposed to make a peep while the players are performing.

Seriously, I think tennis needs to lighten up a little bit and get the crowd more involved in the game. Maybe not to the point of handing out balloons, but just try to make the game a little less stuffy and more appealing to the masses.

[weinstein7]

Clone Roger Federer?

[Buccaneer]

I agree with some of the suggestions above. I just watched the last couple of games between Roddick and Federer and again, that's not tennis - that's just one power serve after another. Ugh. It's like making a rule in baseball that the only way to score a run is to hit a HR. Slower balls, smaller racket heads or whatever needs to bring back finesse to the men's game.

[DanGarion]

"Tennis With The Stars"?

[RendeR]

Clone Roger Federer?


gah, no, one roger is more than enough. Amazing player, superior talent all around, but I just can't watch him play for more than 20 minutes without getting annoyed.


And for those who wanted to put davenport muresemo and the WILLIAMS sisters alongside the likes of Sharapova? what are you thinking? those other girls can play, but think of our eyes man, they can't reach the same ladder as Sharapova on the looks side of things =)

[MJ4H]

Ahem......... Lindsay Davenport, Amelie Mauresmo, The Williams sisters, etc.
I think you missed the point of my post.

[weinstein7]

gah, no, one roger is more than enough. Amazing player, superior talent all around, but I just can't watch him play for more than 20 minutes without getting annoyed.


Well, perhaps clone Federer's talent into a more interesting person.

[Desnudo]

I agree with some of the suggestions above. I just watched the last couple of games between Roddick and Federer and again, that's not tennis - that's just one power serve after another. Ugh. It's like making a rule in baseball that the only way to score a run is to hit a HR. Slower balls, smaller racket heads or whatever needs to bring back finesse to the men's game.

That's what I was getting at with my less powerful racket suggestion. Something needs to be done so that we return to the days of epic points.

I also think the male sport lacks any interesting personalities, and has for years. More hot heads and malcontents would be nice.

[DanGarion]

Andy Riddick, what more do you need?

[kcchief19]

The only change that would interest me would be rules changing the strength of the racket or changing the ball to make it slower. Eliminating lets, ad scoring and other changes have always been talked about, but none of them are really a problem.

I agree with several others above -- men's tennis has become a constant bore for me since it is almost nothing but serving now. Wimbledon use to be a hoot because there was so much serve and volley and net play. But during one of the broadcast earlier this week they showed a graphic of what the grass on centre court looked like at the same point in the tournament a few years ago. Well into the second week this year the grass inthe middle of the court was pristine, whereas it used to be worn bare from net play.

Women's tennis is still the best game in town, although even it gets too powerful at times too. But yesterday's final is what tennis should be like, not the snooze fest Federer put on this morning. Nothing against Federer because he's a great hitter, but he's certainly not an all-around great player -- you don't have to be in the men's game today. All you need is a serve and baseline play.

[3ric]

Not one men's final in 10 years has come close to match the intensity of the classic Wimbledon final of 1980. Bjorn Borg vs John McEnroe - 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (16-18), 8-6. That fourth set tie-break lasted 22 minutes and McEnroe saved seven match points. Restore a little of that and men's tennis stand a chance of being interesting again.

[Desnudo]

Andy Riddick, what more do you need?

Andy Roddick dates hot women, but I don't find watching him play tennis particularly enjoyable. Give me some crazy eastern european hot head with a wooden racket.

[korme]

Tennis is fine the way it is.
You're on to something here.

[Buccaneer]

You're on to something here.
Coming from posters that were still sucking their thumbs and shittin' in their britches in the 1980s, that makes sense. :p

[korme]

Well, I obviously didn't get the luxury to be able to watch the greats in their hay days, only ESPN Classic specials, I might catch an old match. I was particularly agreeing with CHEM on the fact that all of the rules in the game, to me, are fine. I wasn't taking into account the type of players currently playing (stronger) as opposed to the old school.

[Young Drachma]

The two sports I love to play the most, baseball and tennis, are the two I enjoy watching least as a spectator. I'll watch the last couple days of a major, but other than that I rarely pay any attention to it. That being said I wouldn't change it, I think its a great sport to play, and the way the scoring system is now, whole matches can swing on a couple big points. Lots of fun.

I'm with you on this. I love those two the most and I'm with you. I never watch much tennis, but I've played and coached the sport for a long time now.

But I just don't get much pleasure watching it.

Anyway, here's an "alternative" to the tennis rules that's interesting to ponder at worst.

Modern Tennis (http://www.geocities.com/tennismoderno/)

<strong>Moderno is played on a regulation tennis court. But there are several distinct differences between it and other forms of tennis.</strong>

<strong>SCORING</strong>
<li>Each set is comprised of points. Rather than conventional 15-30-40, tennis scoring, modern tennis plays on cumulative points. Each match is 3 sets in length, with each set lasting until one players scores 24 points. The player with the most points at the end of 3 sets, wins the match. If the match is tied at the end of three sets, the players will play a sudden-death set, with the first player reaching 13 points winning the tiebreaker and the match.</li>

<li>At 23-square, you can’t lose the match on a service fault. Meaning that if a player faults, the opposing player receives the 24th point, but play continues with service automatically reverting to the non-serving player from the previous point. Meanwhile, the match is now played to 24 (or the next number in sequence if it happens again) At 24-square, service alternates between the players until someone prevails.</li>

<li>Cumulative Scoring</li>: The player with the most points at the end of three sets, is the winner of the match - not the player who wins 2 out of 3 sets, as all three sets are played regardless of the score.

<strong>SERVE</strong>
<li><strong>No lets:</strong> The ball is played off the net regardless. If the serve goes into the service box off the net, the point is played like a normal point. If it goes out of the box on the serve, the point is awarded to the opposing player.</li>
<li><strong>Only 1 serve:</strong> Players are not afforded the ability to double fault. Players get one serve per point. If they fault, the point is awarded to the opposing player.</li>
<li><strong>Serve/Changeover:</strong></li> Players alternate serving every six points. Changeovers occur every 12 points.
<li><strong>Servers chooses service direction:</strong></li> The serving player decides which service box they will serve to. Players in modern tennis serve the ball directly to the service box on the opposite side of the service court, rather than at the box diagonal to it as in regular tennis.

<strong>COURT SIZE</strong>
<strong><li>The alleys are in:</li></strong> Modern Tennis singles matches use the "doubles" alleys are part of the regular court of play. The alleys are not part of the service area on serve.

<strong>ACTION</strong>
<li><strong>Fans are part of the game!</strong></li> In moderno, fans can cheer, heckle, and otherwise act like fans at sporting events do. This changes the complexion of the event, as it requires players to focus and to remain unrattled.

[ice4277]

It kinda sounds like table tennis on a regular tennis court. Might be fun to play every once and a while.

[Young Drachma]

It kinda sounds like table tennis on a regular tennis court. Might be fun to play every once and a while.

Interesting. I didn't know that, but that makes sense. I played it the other day and it's weird at first (especially serving straight ahead rather than diagonally..it's harder) but it's pretty fun once you get going.

[Karlifornia]

Here are some rules ideas that I think would gain the average Joe viewer:

-If you hit a softy lob that's going to be a guaranteed smash-winner for the opponent, you are allowed to chuck your racket at the opposition while the ball is in flight.

-The ball boys/girls stay on the court during the points and are in play.

-After every point scored, player gets to run to a microphone at center court and bellow a "Signature Catchphrase" eg.: If Roger Federer scores an ace, he could say "You were just served a nice helping of ASSFUCK!"

-Roller Skates

-For every wrong call, the linesman must remove one article of clothing.