Chris Lewit, Prodigy Maker

Here are some thoughts that I have about the sport of tennis and how to make the game more popular for the 21st century–and beyond!

A note to traditionalists–try not to hate with your comments!

Here we go (in no particular order):

1. Make tennis shorter time duration at all levels except perhaps the Grand Slams. At the Slams let’s keep as much tradition as we can to preserve historical roots and the integrity of records and the game.

Embrace new scoring systems to make tennis shorter! Examples are Fast 4, Thirty30, no ads, playing lets, etc and other creative formats that make tennis fast and fun for the modern generation of sports consumer.

2. Embrace smaller court size tennis games and let the sport encompass many footprints. I call this Big Tent Tennis: a sport that offers many varieties of tennis sizes and formats for its fans.

Games like Touch Tennis, Padel, paddle tennis, pickleball, and others are very popular and we should embrace and integrate these tennis cousins into the mainstream tennis conversation and messaging.

Let’s get the world playing tennis, no matter what length or size court and no matter what type of ball or instrument used.

3. Allow on court coaching at all levels. Kids, amateur and pros. If boxers can get coaching, so can tennis players. Mic the coaches and make their talks part of the show.

For young players, allow parents and coaches to intervene and support children when they are struggling with overwhelming emotions. Don’t let little kids endure traumatic moments on court without parental or coach support.

4. Integrate new technologies to eliminate cheating at all levels of the game, from junior to lower level pro and college. The future is camera review. It’s just a matter of time before high speed line call review will transform the tennis landscape at all levels and eliminate cheating once and for all.

Check out Playsight’s PlayFair initiative to get a glimpse of what’s coming down the road.

5. Restructure the Pro Tour to allow a real offseason for the pros for 3-4 months so they can have a real family life and to reduce burnout and injury rates. Make tennis competitive with other pro sport schedules.

6. Restructure prize money so the best top 1000 players can make a decent living. It’s ridiculous that players that good are losing money.

7. Embrace college tennis. The Tennis Channel’s College Game Days are awesome! Keep promoting college tennis and build excitement for the game at that level!

Work to create college systems world-wide–not just in the US. In this way, we can have a world college championships. There is no reason why other colleges and countries can’t copy the American system and build college tennis around the world.

8. Listen to Dave Miley and others and institute a Regional Pro Tour or Transition Tour based on the PGA model. Keep an open and democratic entry point for aspiring professional players. Scrap the current ITF Transition Tour model. It’s a flop.

9. Allow Davis Cup/Laver Cup type atmosphere at all Tour events. NOISE! Get fans pumped and excited to participate in the games like soccer and football fans do.

10. Offer pastoral counselors and non-denominational ministers–worship and services–at all Tour events. Let’s promote spirituality and character building to all these young guns who sometimes lose their moral compasses. Not all young champions can be lucky enough to have a Toni Nadal guiding them through life. Tour players shouldn’t have to give up their spiritual or religious worship when they become pros.

11. Restructure junior tennis tournament scheduling to demand less tournament travel and STOP holding big events during typical family holidays and on Sundays or other religious days. Offer fewer big events and don’t make families choose tennis over family bonding and unity or their religious worship. Too many families give up on tennis and choose other sports because of the ridiculous expectations in the tennis junior schedule and ranking system.

There should also be a junior tennis offseason 3-4 months for the same reason as the pros. Prevent injuries and give kids a healthier balance, family time, and time to work on their games rather than chasing points year-round.

12. And finally, let’s get the cost of playing tennis down to a reasonable level! For juniors, the game is too expensive. We will never be able to win against other sports if the cost of tennis stays as high as it is now. The industry leaders need to come together and bring down the costs and price points throughout the industry. Families just won’t choose tennis over some other sports because of the financial negatives which are currently in the game.

More suggestions to come.

Let me know if you agree or disagree. More importantly, let me know why you agree or disagree.

Thanks

Chris Lewit

ProdigyMaker.com