UTS Grand Final confirms a new generation of tennis fans are asking for more
It feels like a Coldplay concert as the wristbands flash and the music blares, but this is tennis rebranded.
Coaching guru and entrepreneur Patrick Mouratoglou dreamed up his Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) brand during the Covid lockdown, as he looked to fill the void of live sport with an innovative format of tennis.
This is tennis reimagined, with players only getting one serve, 15-second shot clocks between points, wild cards that can be activated to instantly boost your score and matches played over four eight-minute quarters.
Music blares in between points, players talk to the fans when they sit down for a break and amid it all, tennis is being played with big money at stake.
Andrey Rublev, Alex de Minaur, Holger Rune and Gael Monfils are among the big names taking part in the UTS Grand Final in London, as they compete for a total prize money pot of £1.67million.
It may not be what regular visitors to Wimbledon get served up at the All England Club, but a glance at the smiles on the faces of the noticeably younger crowd in attendance at London’s Copper Box for the UTS Grand Final said so much about why this version of tennis has to be part of the sport moving forward.
Cricket has been transformed and enhanced by 20/20 cricket and this could be the tennis version, with the standard format of an exhibition event lacking the intoxicating appeal of this quick-fire model of the sport.
Mouratoglou is not attending the UTS Grand Final in London as he is away with his new star pupil Naomi Osaka, but he told Tennis365 that his UTS Tour is not designed to threaten the traditional version of the sport.
“Fans can love classical tennis and they can also love UTS,” Mouratoglou told Tennis365 in an exclusive interview.
“The goal of UTS is mostly to bring new fans to tennis and younger fans, but of course, any tennis fan is more than welcome.
“I don’t even understand how traditional tennis events can complain about having competition from UTS. You know, in every single field in the world, there is competition.
“When there is competition, it lifts everyone up. It pushes everyone to do better, to improve. So that’s a great thing.
“Is it a lot of tournaments altogether, yes, it is for sure it is. Do the players have to make choices? Yes, they do, but give them the right to make choices with the things that they feel are the best for them.
“If someone plays UTS, he loves it, he thinks it improves his game because it’s played differently and it pushes them to also develop other things.
“So I think everybody’s winning there and again, I don’t see any problem with competition. I think if in the world, if there was, there would be no competition, it would be a disaster.”
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With the weekend sessions at this year’s UTS Grand Final in London all but sold out, Mouratoglou’s vision for his brand has become a reality.
Does tennis have space in its calendar for more tennis at a time when players are complaining that they are playing too many matches?
The big names playing in exhibition events around the world in recent weeks provides the answer to that question and Mouratoglou hopes to take UTS to the next level in 2025.
“It always takes time for people to get to know about a new event because everything that is new at the start is difficult, but I can see a huge improvement,” he added.
“A lot of people have gone to our UTS events now. They’re speaking because they’re, I think 90 if not more percent of the people have loved it. So yeah, now, I mean, we’re sold out every time, we are sold out earlier and earlier.
“In Nimes next April, we sold 6000 tickets in the first 24 hours, and it’s going really fast. We are sold out every time now and I think the atmosphere is just something you’ve never seen on a tennis court.
“So for people who love that sport, it’s to be able to experience that and also be part of it, because you can express yourself as much as you want, whenever you want.
“It’s really that’s what I just said before, I feel like it’s an old format of Davis Cup with the same atmosphere, but because there is also the DJ, entertainment, people are really participating, dancing, it’s really special.
“So you have both the competitive part with the top players, an incredible amount of really pressure moments, where you have a lot of stress as a spectator, and, of course, as a player too, and at the same time, a huge entertainment. So you have both, which is great.”
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