The tennis season is too long in its current state and needs to be better organized in the future, acknowledges Novak Djokovic.
Speaking to the press after his 6-2, 6-3 victory over Tallon Griekspoor in the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships, the world No. 1 addressed the evolution of tennis, opining that it has become much more physical than I used to. be.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion also noted that everyone is playing pretty much every major tournament these days, noting that the competition was very high, albeit untenable in its current state. Having always maintained that the tennis calendar was too rigorous for players’ bodies, the 35-year-old has only become firmer in that opinion with age.
“I agree that it has become more physical in terms of running, sliding. You have to be very athletic. You have to be a complete player and on all surfaces to be number 1 in the world. Nowadays everyone is playing pretty much all the big tournaments, so the competition is very, very high.”
“The season is long. For me it’s too long, in my opinion. I’ve been saying it for quite some time, these days when I’m a little bit older than 10 years ago,” Djokovic said.
However, the Serb is not so sure the shakeup will happen anytime soon as there are too many governing bodies and conflicting interests in the sport. But given that tennis is one of the most watched sports in the world, Djokovic admitted that it needed to be promoted better than it is currently being done.
“I feel that we can rearrange our season in a better way. It’s a bit complicated. It’s another topic. There are too many interests, governing bodies in tennis that decide the schedule. In general, I think tennis is in a good place, but we must use the potential and global reach that we have.
“We’re not using that potential to the fullest at all. We’re one of the most watched sports in the world, over a billion people watching. I feel like collectively we need to do a better job of promoting tennis. It’s a very popular , a historic sport. In terms of marketing and usage, if you will, the commercial potential is not that close to all other global sports,” he said.
“Everything is evolving, everything is getting better” – Novak Djokovic on the evolution of tennis
Novak Djokovic credited technology as the main reason for the rapid evolution of tennis in recent years, a characteristic that he attributed to all sports in general. The Serb believes that technological changes, such as the modernization of the racket, have helped tennis transition to a much faster style of play than before.
“I think that’s the case with all sports. It’s a logical thing, I would say, a fact of life. Everything is evolving, everything is getting better. It should be that way. You have the technology that is really different.”
“Not so many years ago, tennis was played with a wooden racket. So many incredibly durable yet very lightweight materials have been introduced that allow you to swing faster and have more control. That’s technology,” Djokovic said.