Patrick Mouratoglou discusses the future of UTS, as it moves into Asia for first time
The second Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) event took place on the eve of the Monte Carlo Masters, with Casper Ruud – nicknamed ‘the Ice Man ‘ – taking home the crown.
UTS founder Patrick Mouratoglou gave his insight into the future of the event, announcing that it will make its Asian debut in Hong Kong in October 2025 – featuring Andrey Rublev, Alex de Minaur, and Zhang Zhizhen.
Q. How excited are you to take UTS to Asia – and Hong Kong – for the first time?
Patrick Mouratoglou: “First of all, Asia. That was one of my goals, to be in every continent, because the goal of UTS was to be global, so we were looking for the right location and – when this opportunity came out, with Hong Kong – we were extremely excited.
“First of all, because the city is one of the biggest and most exciting cities in Asia. It came about because of the partners we have and the fact that Michael Chang has a lot of experience, as well as the federation and the government being involved. Again, they have the experience, they have been very active in tennis, they have already brought some professional tournaments that they are running, so they are the perfect partners for us.”
Q. What is it that is exciting about Hong Kong, specifically, that is going to be great for UTS?
Patrick Mouratoglou: “Well, it’s a very international crowd, also, with one million expats and is a huge city with seven or eight million people. Again, to be in Asia, for us, is a big step and Hong Kong is a very modern, very dynamic city, technological city, but, also, a finance city – so many components that make it an incredible destination.”
Q. The Kai Tak arena is brand new, the arena which we are in now (in Nimes) is 2000 years old. Does this mean that UTS can work in any stadium?
Patrick Mouratoglou: “I think it’s either or. Ideally, it’s either a very modern and new facility, because UTS wants to be the future and presents a very modern way to play tennis, so this makes sense, but also an antique place makes sense too because it is striking, it’s different to have one of the most modern leagues in the world in one of the most antique places in the world. This contrast makes it so striking.”
Q. Did you ever imagine that UTS would be this global, in very different venues?
Patrick Mouratoglou: “100%, I remember my first speech to the investors. Of course, the idea was to represent a very modern way to play tennis, to bring younger fans to this sport, but I was picturing incredible venues, because it adds so much when you enter this stage and your heart is beating before everything starts. So, yes, it was part of the idea, but when we go to Hong Kong in an incredibly modern place, it’s the same. We want to do things that are different and modern things for people.”
Q. Do you have dream places where you would love to host a UTS event?
Patrick Mouratoglou: “I mean we can play in front of the pyramids, in the desert, on the ocean, that was the pitch initially. Things take time, so we are building, bringing new fans at every event – bigger and bigger stages, more and more people, and now we’re officially global. I mean, not yet, because we haven’t gone to Africa yet, but we have to be patient until the final dream can happen.”
Q. Presumably, you’d love to have WTA players here?
Patrick Mouratoglou: “We’d love to have women here, but the rules of tennis for women are even stricter than for men, so it doesn’t allow them to play other [exhibition] events. So, that’s limiting the scope of what we can do, but we can see how it would evolve.”
Q. How are you balancing your job here with your other job [coach to Naomi Osaka]?
Patrick Mouratoglou: “I have long legs (laughs). I spent a whole week with Naomi at the academy, and I’ll be back. It’s all about the team. I’ve been asked the same question about the academy, and now the academies, the tennis centres which we have – more than 10 in the world – now my job with Naomi, and before with Serena. If you have the right team, anything is possible, and I think we have an incredible team.”
Q. You have a lot of regular players, do you think that there is an increasing number of players that want to play at UTS?
Patrick Mouratoglou: “We are growing, the more we are growing, the more attractive we are to players, and we are thankful to the ones who have believed from the start and who have been present almost every event – Gael [Monfils], Casper [Ruud], Andrey Rublev also. There have been some that have been very supportive from day one and we won’t forget them for sure, but, yes, there are two or three names which we would love to have.”
Q. Any in particular?
Patrick Mouratoglou: “I mean the top three for sure, and Novak [Djokovic], of course.”
Q. This is the first UTS on clay?
Patrick Mouratoglou: “Yeah, we had one at the academy a long time ago, but at the very start – without a crowd – so let’s say yes.”
Q. One on grass in the future?
Patrick Mouratoglou: “Why not? We are limited in the number of tournaments, that’s the thing. So it’s difficult for us to create new events, creating two this year. We wanted to be in Latin America, so we had one in Guadalajara, and now one in Asia, Hong Kong. The idea is to build in the cities where we know there is big potential, but it would be great on grass, without any doubt. For the moment, we have a limited number of events, so it’s not something that we imagine in the near future, at least.”
Q. The one-serve rule on grass, do you think it would be a benefit?
Patrick Mouratoglou: “On grass, it would be very interesting to see how the players will serve and how much risk they will take. They obviously take less on clay than on hard, indoors, on grass? I don’t know, tennis is about problem-solving so let’s see how they solve that problem when we play there.”
Q. As a coach, do you love watching the players dealing with different scenarios at UTS?
Patrick Mouratoglou: “Yes, I do. They are facing situations that they don’t face in classical tennis, and to see them deal with it is interesting.
“Also, as you saw, we are involving the coaches much more and we are highlighting them much more. It’s something that the professional tour should be inspired by, as this is the only sport where coaching was banned, and coaches shouldn’t appear with the crowd. It’s time to respect coaches.
“It’s a tough job as they are sacrificing their life to do their job, and they are passionate, they have a lot of things to say, and they are charismatic, but they are not able to build a brand with the way that they are exposed. We give them four or five events a year, but if they were able to be exposed more, I think it would be beneficial for everyone.”
Q. On clay, who do you think are the most difficult players to play?
Patrick Mouratoglou: “You know, when you play UTS, you only have one serve, there are many more rallies – rallies are longer on clay – you have very little time to refocus and recover between points, so the best prepared are those that like longer rallies.
“Especially on clay, the players that are able to hang with their opponents and, suddenly, boom their opponent makes four, five, six unforced errors in a row because they cannot deal with it anymore. I think guys who are really tough in the rally, I mean Rafa [Nadal] would’ve been the worst, he’s the worst [to face] on clay anyway, so he’s not a great example.
“I mean, the guys like Casper and Andrey who were in the semis, I’m not surprised because they are the most consistent, physically the ones who are able to play long rallies and recover fast.”
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Q. Looking ahead, predictions for Roland Garros?
Patrick Mouratoglou: “I mean we have to see when [Jannik] Sinner comes back, how he plays. He has only one tournament, but it’s not going to be easy for him to only play one tournament, but, thankfully for him, it’s at home so he’ll have the crowd support which will help him.
“At this point, it’s very difficult to pick one person. When Sinner was out, there was an incredible opportunity for a few players, and none of them have been able to take advantage of the situation, which means that nobody is really confident at the moment, nobody is really at the top of their game – talking about the top 5, let’s say.
“For the moment, Sinner – for me – is favourite, but let’s see how he comes back when he plays.”
