Billie Jean King has called for tennis to change its traditional scoring system to attract the next generation of fans.
The use of the word ‘love’ to mean zero and points in a 15-30-40 sequence has been used in tennis for centuries, but the multiple Grand Slam winner believes it is confusing to younger fans.
“I want to make it easy for the fans. I think it should be 1-2-3-4 and not 15-love, 30-love,” King told BBC Sport. “If you’re a kid – I don’t come from tennis – what the hell does that mean? If we want to get eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve-year-old kids involved in our sport, we have to make it accessible to them – not to a 60-year-old fan.”
King also wants more attention to be paid to personalities in tennis, with players’ names being put on the back of their shirts or tops, as in football and, more recently, rugby.
Tennis is the latest sport to consider the future of tennis and how it can appeal to the coveted younger generation. Cricket introduced the Hundred, Formula 1 attracted a younger audience to the sport via Netflix Drive to surviveand now King has proposed similar measures for her sport.
‘Be patient with Raducanu’
The final of the Billie Jean King Cup takes place this week in Malaga, with the British team Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter.
Raducanu has been plagued by a series of injuries that have affected her time on court since winning the 2021 US Open, but King believes she needs an extended period away from the treatment table before her skills are scrutinized as it is difficult to build momentum.
“If she can stay healthy long enough, we’ll see how good she is,” King said. “It takes a lot to come back from an injury and you have to be very patient.”
Only two players from the top 10 are involved in the BJK Cup final: Poland’s Iga Swiatek and Italy’s Jasmine Paolini, with Coco Gauff of the United States among them having withdrawn on the eve of the tournament.
Injuries have had an impact on availability, but players have become increasingly vocal about the length of the season, with matches scheduled almost non-stop all year round.
However, King believes that those involved should not complain about the regular WTA Tour season and then use their free time to participate in lucrative exhibition matches.
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