Joao Fonseca chasing mega prize money as he prepares to star in front of his Brazilian fans
Patrick Mouratoglou’s Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) has landed in Brazil and all eyes will be on a local hero as he gets a chance to shine in front of his home fans.
Joao Fonseca is joining a star-studded field that also includes Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo, USA’s Brandon Nakashima, Brit Cameron Norrie, Corentin Moutet from France, Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor and Brazilian Guto Miguel in a field that also includes Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis as an alternate player who will step in if players drop out.
It is an impressive line-up for an event that is a long way from home for most competing, but the huge prize money on offer will be a factor in their decision to play.
While players constantly complain about the hectic schedule in the men’s game, they are also keen to take advantage of the huge earning potential from events like this.
The lure of a potential $400,000 top prize for this event has allowed Mourtoglou and his team to assemble an impressive field as UTS hits South America. The total prize fund for this event is $1.238 million, which is substantially more than regular tour events.
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Mourtoglou spoke to Tennis365 about his UTS adventure and while he insisted he was not trying to take on the traditional game with his fast-paced version, he has high ambitions to take his UTS model to the next level.
“I had very high expectations at the start, so I can’t say this has gone even better than we expected, but there is no doubt it is going in the right direction,” Mouratoglou told Tennis365.
“When we first spoke about UTS, it was at a time when we couldn’t have any crowds during Civic, but everything changed when we could have the crowd involved.
“It is amazing to see how much the fans get into it and UTS comes alive when you have a crowd interacting with the players during the events. They get crazy. I don’t feel like I’m at a tennis match and that’s exactly what I wanted when this idea started.
“You can get some amazing moments in a Grand Slam when they are playing a deciding tie-break and the crowd are going crazy, but you get more of that with UTS. Almost in every match.
“We wanted a different type of experience for fans watching UTS, a stronger experience. Traditional tennis will always be there in the sport, but this can be something different.”
Traditionalists may shy away from a remodelled version of tennis that only allows players one serve per point in a match divided up into four eight-minute quarters, yet Mouratoglou is convinced there is space for all versions of tennis on the sport’s landscape.
“This is not about competing with the Grand Slams, that was never our goal,” insisted Mouratoglou.
“The Grand Slams are history, they are the big events in tennis every year. They have something we will never have, but we have something different to them.
“What we proposed with UTS was a completely different experience for tennis and to involve the younger generation.
“If your son or daughter goes home and says it was better than classical tennis, that’s exactly what we want. It reaches out to a different audience.
“A lot of tennis fans can love UTS, but the more traditional and conservative fans are the ones that are going to be the most difficult to convert.
“What we can do is attract a new audience, maybe a younger audience, and that is what we have seen with UTS crowds.
“We a really targeting fans who are under 40 and when they experience UTS for the first time, they really love it. They don’t follow tennis all year long, but we want to get them interested in our sport and if they like UTS, then they will hopefully like tennis as well.
“One issue is the tennis calendar is so intense. Finding the best weeks for UTS is tough because you want to have the best players, but you also need to find a week that can work for them.”
WHAT IS UTS?
– Fast-paced and intense matches composed of 4 quarters of 8 minutes each.
– Live coaching allowed and live-streamed to the fans.
– Mid-match interviews to get inside of the players’ minds.
– An emphasis on strategy with the introduction of UTS cards that allow players to win three points at once.
– Suspense until the last second with decisive points and sudden deaths.
– A diluted code of conduct that encourages players to let off steam during matches.
