A 40-Minute Tennis Match? How Serena Williams’s Former Coach Is Reinventing the Game
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Some partnerships are just business, but some truly are a genuine match.
The bond between tennis coach extraordinaire Patrick Mouratoglou and 159-year-old watch brand Zenith is one of the latter—and by extension Mouratoglou’s dynamic new tour, UTS (Ultimate Tennis Showdown), which is positioned to change the way professional tennis is played. Speaking with Mouratoglou during the UTS Oslo event, which took place February 9 to 11, 2024, the famous tennis trainer, known for coaching athletes like Serena Williams to three Wimbledon titles, cited studies showing that both fans of tennis and general players of the sport belong to the older generations.
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The pandemic gave Mouratoglou time and space to think about the future of tennis, during which he drew up a plan. “I had this idea for a different tennis format to bring younger fans on board,” he explained. Six weeks later, he and a team were building new court software, and a year after that he had raised the first capital installment of €15 million ($16,115,850) for the compelling new tour, the premise of which is to speed up play and make the experience more dynamic. This is achieved by using only one serve, which leaves less room for aces, alternating serves every two points, shortening the time between points, and using regular scoring (less specialized tennis jargon to confuse newbies).
But perhaps the most drastic change has to do with time: instead of playing best of three (or five) sets, play is timed in eight-minute quarters, so an entire match lasts no longer than 40 minutes. “It’s a completely different way to consume the sport, much more modern,” Mouratoglou said, noting that the world has changed, and traditional sports must change along with it if they want to survive.
“UTS is young, it’s disruptive, it’s innovative, and it’s different…and this is why we believe it will bring a new audience to tennis but a new audience to Zenith as well,” says the watch brand’s CEO Benoît de Clerck. Indeed, time is an essential element of UTS, and for Mouratoglou Zenith is the perfect partner. “I think it’s important to work with people that you value…and I think the products are amazing.”
Mouratoglou is not just paying lip service: he has bought Zenith watches that are not part of his contract just because he loved them. “I am lucky because I’m not allowed to wear any other brand, but I love a lot of what Zenith makes. In many other brands, I would be in trouble. And I think we’re very aligned in terms of philosophy of life.”
Against the backdrop of the Oslo tournament’s magnificent tennis played by eight dynamic competitors (including four top-twelve ATP-ranked players), Zenith introduced a sporty new edition of the traditional Chronomaster Sport in lightweight titanium. Not only was it worn by Mouratoglou and de Clerck in Oslo, but one was also awarded to star player Alex de Minaur as the prize of the Rally Award for the most spectacular point of the tournament.
The next UTS event will take place in New York City, date yet to be confirmed.
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