"Tennis is endangered" - Novak Djokovic voices harsh "economical" reality that threatens the sport's survival beyond Grand Slams
Novak Djokovic has raised concerns regarding the future of tennis. According to the Serb, the sport will eventually lag behind its sister racquet sports padel and pickleball if efforts are not made to make tennis more accessible.
Djokovic registered a hard-fought 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(3) third-round win over Alexei Popyrin at the ongoing 2024 Wimbledon Championships on Friday, July 6. Following his win and the post-match, on-court formalities, the World No. 2 made his way to a press conference, where he was asked about the importance of five-set matches in tennis.
There has been a lot of talk surrounding five-set matches recently, which are exclusive to men's tennis at the Majors. Many view five-set affairs as difficult for casual viewers to follow from start to finish, with yesteryear great John McEnroe recently suggesting that the fifth set should be replaced by a ten-point tiebreak at the end of the fourth set to decide even matches.
Djokovic provided an elaborate answer, where he opined that he would not make any changes to the five-set format for men's tennis at the Grand Slams. However, the 24-time Major winner went on to state that innovations are the need of the hour for tennis if it means to survive and thrive in the long run. The Serb cited the expensive nature of tennis as one of the biggest problems plaguing the sport.
"Tennis is a very global sport and it's loved by millions of children that pick up a racquet and want to play. But we don't make it accessible. We don't make it so affordable. Especially in countries like mine that doesn't have a strong federation, that has Grand Slam or history or big budgets. I think collectively we all have to come together and understand how to maintain the sport's, let's say, foundation or create a new foundation, a cornerstone of really what tennis is about, which is the base level, right, the club level," Djokovic said.
The World No. 2 proceeded to compare the state of tennis to that of its sister racquet sports padel and pickleball. Djokovic warned that if the sport was not made affordable and accessible, there will come a time when padel and pickleball's popularity would eclipse that of tennis.
"Now we have the paddle or padel, as you call it in the States, that is growing and emerging. People kind of have fun with it and say, Yeah, but tennis is tennis. Tennis is the king or queen of all the racquet sports, that's true. But on a club level, tennis is endangered. If we don't do something about it, as I said, globally or collectively, paddle, pickle ball in States, they're going to convert all the tennis clubs into paddle and pickle ball because it's just more economical," Djokovic added.
Novak Djokovic-led PTPA highlighted concerning numbers in tennis' revenue sharing compared to other sports in 2023
In December 2023, the Novak Djokovic-led Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) released an infographic. The infographic shed light on the revenue sharing numbers in tennis compared to those across other popular sports. Revenue sharing in tennis stood at a dismal 18% while the likes of NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB and PGA were all significantly ahead.
Nick Kyrgios, the controversial Australian ATP star, who became a member of the PTPA in June 2023, took notice of the infographic and shared it on Instagram with the caption:
"Lol not acceptable"
On the tennis front, Djokovic's next outing is slated to be against Holger Rune in the fourth round of the Wimbledon Championships on Monday, July 8. If the Serb wins, he will face either ninth seed Alex de Minaur or Arthur Fils in the quarterfinals.