Patrick Mouratoglou Sounds the Alarm on Tennis’ Future: “The World of Yesterday”

Patrick Mouratoglou has been very vocal about tennis on his Instagram account.

Patrick Mouratoglou Sounds the Alarm on Tennis’ Future: “The World of Yesterday”

Patrick Mouratoglou (Image via X/Tiempo De Tenis)

In Short
  • Patrick Mouratoglou warns that tennis is losing young fans who prefer highlights over full matches.
  • He emphasizes the need to engage younger audiences to ensure the sport's future popularity.
  • Mouratoglou also critiques the sport's outdated format and consumption methods in the digital age.

Serena Williams‘ former coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, has given warning signs about the future of tennis. The Frenchman, who has been vocal about various developments around the world, believes that tennis has lost fans because young people no longer watch matches.

Mouratoglou, who owns an Instagram account, believes that, due to changes in content creation, fans are no longer watching matches. He believes fans are watching highlights rather than long matches.

Young people aren’t watching tennis—all the studies have shown it. It’s essential to get them hooked on this sport if we want tennis to still be as popular in 30 or 40 years. Tennis is hugely popular among people of my generation who discovered it in the 70s-80s. The fanbase is massive, but aging. If we project ahead to 20, 30, or 40 years from now, the fanbase, THERE WON’T BE ONE. So there’ll be no more tennis.

The tennis fanbase was split between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for so long. With both of their departures and Novak Djokovic at the twilight of his career, there is no doubt that the tennis fandom has taken a huge hit. He added:

Tennis, IT’S THE WORLD OF YESTERDAY. It was created before 1900, the format has never been changed since, or only marginally. Ways of consuming content have totally changed. Social media, streaming platforms, video games… people under 30 don’t consume like they used to. Even the players. When I ask them, THEY ALL TELL ME THEY DON’T WATCH MATCHES ANYMORE! Too long. They watch highlights. The product isn’t adapted. It’s adapted to me, not to those under 30.

Speaking of Djokovic, the Serb had already shared how the concept of padel in the world of racket sports will undermine the tennis courts. The 24-time Grand Slam champion said during the 2024 Wimbledon fortnight that, given the business model, tennis clubs will be converted to padel.

Patrick Mouratoglou looks back on the comments from Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Patrick Mouratoglou has looked back on the social media clash he had with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The two Frenchmen were caught in an ugly spat over their differing opinions on the competition between the current and previous games.

I don’t know. But Jo isn’t the only one. I once said something about a player who’s in the top two in the world—I won’t name her, because I don’t want to—and she was very annoyed by what I said. Yet, I’m absolutely not trying to hurt anyone. There’s never any intention to cause harm. I just try to be honest in my analysis. I’ve said things about Sinner, about Alcaraz, about Sabalenka… One day, I made a Top 5 list of the best one-handed backhands of all time, the best serve… The players who weren’t on it were furious with me.

Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Patrick Mouratoglou, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic
L: Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz; In circle left: Patrick Mouratoglou; In circle right: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga; R: Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic (Image via X/The Tennis Letter, Swish Tennis, Bastien Fachan, Scott Barclay)

Tsonga believed that Alcaraz and Sinner don’t face the same competition as the Big 3 did. The 2008 Australian Open finalist believes that things will only matter if the two current tennis titans play Murray, Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic in the same draw. However, Mouratoglou reversed that opinion, claiming that it had never happened before.

The two have not stopped taking shots at each other. Recently, when Djokovic beat Sinner in the Australian Open semifinal, Tsonga once again took a jibe at Mouratoglou by sarcastically using his quote on Instagram.

Tsonga was one of the few players to challenge the Big 3 constantly during his playing career. His biggest wins came at the 2008 Australian Open, where he smashed Nadal to reach his only Grand Slam final. His other notable win came in the 2011 Wimbledon, where he became the first man to beat Federer from two sets down.

Patrick Mouratoglou looks back on Joao Fonseca’s ‘robot’ comment on Jannik Sinner

Brazilian tennis sensation Joao Fonseca sent the tennis world into a debate when he claimed that Alcaraz has more flair than Sinner, who is more like a robotic version of a tennis player. One of the people who commented on this debate was none other than Patrick Mouratoglou. He said on his Instagram:

I feel the opinion of João Fonseca on Alcaraz and Sinner after playing them back-to-back is very interesting…Am I surprised by João saying this? Yes, a little bit. He doesn’t try to be politically correct, he says what he thinks after playing against the two best players in the world, and explaining the differences between those two guys.

Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Joao Fonseca
Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Joao Fonseca (Image via X/Carlos Alcaraz 4K, Jannik Sinner HQ, Ivan Aguilar)

The tennis world finally got to see their most-anticipated clash as Fonseca played both Sinner and Alcaraz during the Sunshine Double. Fonseca first played Sinner in Indian Wells, where he narrowly lost to the eventual champion in two tiebreak sets.

Astonishingly, Fonseca was the only player in the Sunshine Double to have set points against Sinner. The Italian became the first man to win the Sunshine Double without dropping a set.

Then, a week later, Fonseca played Alcaraz in Miami. However, the outcome was far more obvious in this match as the World No.1 won 6-4, 6-4.

Also Read: Samuel Lopez Trusts Alvaro Alcaraz’s Abilities to Support Brother Carlos Alcaraz as Second Coach