Patrick Mouratoglou makes ‘insane’ claim as tennis landscape shifts

Patrick Mouratoglou has insisted tennis chiefs need to embrace new versions of the sport, with his Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) format gathering momentum at a rapid rate this year.

The debate over the hectic tennis schedule has been one of the big talking points of 2024, with most leading players suggesting the number of mandatory tournaments they are required to play by the ATP or WTA Tours needs to be reduced amid concerns over injuries and fatigue.

Despite those complaints, the final months of the season have featured a host of high-profile non-ATP Tour events, including the Laver Cup and Six Kings Slam that guaranteed huge payments for the players that took part.

With tennis eager to embrace new and younger audiences, quick-fire events like the UTS Tour devised by Mouratoglou have enjoyed a huge boom in interest.

Britain’s Jack Draper won last year’s UTS Grand Final in London and claimed prize money in excess of $500,000, while Ben Shelton won the UTS Frankfurt event last month, winning $377,400 for his weekend’s work.

That kind of money will attract the top players to compete at events like UTS and Mouratoglou believes tennis needs to find space for new and innovative versions of the sport.

“Fans can love classical tennis and they can also love UTS,” Mouratoglou told Tennis365 in an exclusive interview.

“The goal of UTS is mostly to bring new fans to tennis and younger fans, but of course, any tennis fan is more than welcome.

“I don’t even understand how traditional tennis events can complain about having competition from UTS. You know, in every single field in the world, there is competition.

“It’s normal and it’s sane. What is not sane is to have no competition. When there is competition, it lifts everyone up. It pushes everyone to do better, to improve. So that’s a great thing.

“Is it a lot of tournaments altogether, yes, it is for sure it is. Do the players have to make choices? Yes, they do, but give them the right to make choices with the things that they feel is the best for them.

“If someone plays UTS, a player, he loves it, he thinks it improves his game because it’s played differently and it pushes them to also develop other things.

“So I think everybody’s winning there and again, I don’t see any problem with competition. I think if in the world, if there was, there would be no competition, it would be a disaster.”

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The UTS Grand Final in London is set to be played in front of sell-out crowds next months, even after moving to a bigger venue for the 2024 edition and next year’s UTS event in Nimes, France sold out quickly.

So there is clearly a demand for different versions of the sport and Mouratoglou is excited by what comes next.

“It always takes time for people to get to know about a new event because everything that is new at the start is difficult, but I can see a huge improvement,” he added.

“A lot of people have gone to our UTS events now. They’re speaking because they’re, I think 90 if not more percent of the people have loved it. So yeah, now, I mean, we’re sold out every time, we are sold out earlier and earlier.

“I mean, in Nimes, next April, we sold 6000 tickets the first 24 hours, and it’s going really fast. We are sold out every time now and I think the atmosphere is just something you’ve never seen on a tennis court.

“So for people who love that sport, it’s to be able to experience that and also be part of it, because you can express yourself as much as you want, whenever you want.

“It’s really that’s what I just said before, I feel like it’s an old format of Davis Cup with the same atmosphere, but because there is also the DJ, entertainment, people are really participating, dancing, it’s really special.

“So you have both the competitive part with the top players, an incredible amount of really pressure moments, where you have a lot of stress as a spectator, and, of course, as a player too, and at the same time, a huge entertainment. So you have both, which is great.”

The UTS Grand Final will be played at London’s Copper Box from December 6-8.

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