22
Mouratoglou: “My ultimate goal is to create a second Tour”
9 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
Tennis coach and academy owner Patrick Mouratoglou said in the debut issue of Final Magazine that he has bigger plans for his future beyond player development and coaching. “My ultimate goal for the “Ultimate Tennis Showdown” (his exhibition event in France) is to create a second tour, not to intervene with how the game is traditionally played. We should keep the classic tour with the ATP tournaments and Grand Slams for the classic fans. So you leave tennis exactly the way it is today for them because that’s how they enjoy it. We are now at a moment in tennis where the tennis pie is limited and everybody is fighting to get a piece of it. My message is: Don’t fight for a small pie, let’s grow it instead. It’s possible if we get new, young fans onboard, then the pie is going to become much bigger. That’s the ultimate goal. The UTS functions as a second tour, with fewer events, a modified ranking system and adapted to the modern way of consuming entertainment. That means shorter, more dynamic, immersive and authentic matches. The average age of UTS followers is 41, which is twenty years younger compared to the typical tennis fan. The success of this new version of a tennis tournament makes me very proud.”
The UTS debuted this year and included players like Taylor Fritz, Alex deMinaur and Corentin Moutet playing quick matches with a different scoring system, simulated crowd roars, and other novelties.
“My most important goal for UTS is to bring new fans into tennis. I want young people to love tennis. The fanbase of tennis is huge, with over a billion people worldwide. And the average age of the tennis viewer is 61. Right now, tennis is surviving thanks to the supporters from the 1970s and 80s. It demonstrates that when you fall in love with tennis, it lasts for life. These supporters are outstandingly loyal, devoted and have a tendency to be nostalgic. But the regular tour’s fanbase is also old and it’s only getting older. That’s not what I envision the future of tennis to be. With a more gladiatorial, faster, exciting format, the intention of the UTS is to ingnite the tennis sparkle in the young generation.”
UTS has boldly differentiated itself from the ATP. “There’s a completely different set of rules. It’s more dynamic and on-court coaching is permitted. Microphones are positioned towards the players so the fans can hear what they are expressing. It’s more authentic and immersive to watch and attracts the younger generation who doesn’t have the patience to watch five set marathons in Grand Slams. I was very proud of what my team and I have accomplished. The UTS has now accumulated more than a million followers on Facebook, just after four events. Statistics show that over half of the new followers were not fans of tennis before the UTS launched.”
To get the new issue of Final Magazine which also features stories on Gottfried von Cramm, the phenomenon of Emma Raducanu (by yours truly), Hall of Famer Steve Flink on the current men’s game, and much more, go to www.finalmagazine.net
ATP · FInal Magazine · Patrick Mouratoglou · UTS
catherine · December 22, 2021 at 1:54 pm
Scoop – I’m sorry but that cover isn’t enticing. Seems a magazine for a private membership.
I’d like to read your piece on Emma but I’m not subscribing at those rates. Maybe I’ll pick it up somewhere.
Scoop Malinowski · December 22, 2021 at 2:52 pm
Catherine, I will post it soon. Thank you. Patrick bought 1000 copies of the issue, he loves it. It’s an excellent magazine, and I like the plans for the future issues. The main photographer is a top fashion photographer and was commissioned to photograph the Royal family of Norway.
catherine · December 22, 2021 at 3:34 pm
Thanks. I look forward to reading it. Perhaps I’m seeing the mag from the British commercial point of view. The quality is good but the cover doesn’t convey that the magazine is about sport – it’s not active and eyecatching so wouldn’t/couldn’t be sold through newsagents. Really, it resembles a high end European art magazine. Perhaps that’s the market.
The publishers are willing to take the risk in a notoriously difficult field so it’ll be interesting to see how things work out.
Scoop Malinowski · December 22, 2021 at 6:16 pm
Catherine, Agree, there is a lot of black white space on the cover, maybe some smaller capsule photos from each of those stories noted could have been added. Or at least to the three on the left. But Patrick Mouratoglou is an instantly recognizable tennis figure right now, more so than a lot of top 50 players even, due to his major exposure of being associated with Serena for the last decade or so. Most likely the next cover will be of tennis action. We have some of the very best photographers in the world on staff – Jorgen Gomnaes and Ella Ling. One thing about the magazine is that the quality of the design and format and layout is so spectacular, it demands that the content text be worthy of being in such a publication. That is a challenge but I feel confident as a content creator that will not be a problem. Got some interesting innovative features lined up.
Scoop Malinowski · December 22, 2021 at 6:21 pm
Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations. – George Orwell
Vijay · January 1, 2022 at 8:49 pm
Scoop, you can’t go around quoting committed socialists like Orwell. Especially when they are talking about commerce, markets, and supply and demand. It’s hardly their area of expertise.
Scoop Malinowski · January 1, 2022 at 9:27 pm
Vijay I really like Orwell quotes, don’t always fully agree but he had the right to speak his opinions and beliefs. We have freedom of speech in this country, or at least we used to.Thanks for you comments.
Scoop Malinowski · January 1, 2022 at 9:28 pm
Is this the Vijay I met at Tallahassee? I did mention your serve and volley comments to Petr Korda for Sebi BTW.
Vijay · January 2, 2022 at 3:36 pm
Scoop, yes, it’s the same Vijay.
Come on now, don’t be so melodramatic. Yes, you have the right to free speech and quote Orwell. He had the right to express his opinions. I, in turn, have the right to ignore it all.
All I wanted to point out was that if your goal was to be persuasive, this quote by Orwell was probably less than ideal. Orwell was a reporter in his youth, and so this quote strikes me as overly aggrieved and self-serving. Not to mention his socialist tendencies leave one to doubt he knew anything about supply and demand. Perhaps his fragile ego couldn’t accept an editor rejecting his story. Who knows.
By the way, I like lots of what Orwell wrote. But context matters. As does time. He later wrote Animal Farm, after having time to think about things, I suppose . . .