Novak Djokovic has called for a drastic overhaul of scoring rules in tennis, and a former World No. 1 doesn’t agree with him at all.
Novak Djokovic has won more major titles than any other player in men’s tennis history. And now, in the twilight of his career, it seems he has some ideas on how to change the game entirely.
Djokovic spoke recently about how scoring in tennis needs to change. He advocated for sets to be played to four games instead of six, and even wanted to do away with the tiebreaker concept.
All this is in service of supposedly making the sport shorter and thus more entertaining. A lot of long-time tennis fans disagree with Djoker, and now former US Open champ Kim Clijsters has added her voice to theirs.
think there’s nothing greater than seeing a four or five-hour match,” Clijsters said, during an appearance on the Love All podcast. “And they don’t happen every day, right?
“But to have a few of them in a tournament, especially if you can have a Novak against Sinner or Novak against Rafa, Rafa against Roger, like those moments I feel stand out so much in the history of our sport.
And it would be a shame if we don’t have that… It would make things a lot easier for a lot of parties that are investing into the sport. But I think as a player I’m also kind of old school, I don’t like to see a lot of changes in our sport.”
Djokovic’s suggestions might be a bit too different to get implemented any time soon. But it’s good to hear the other side of the argument from another ambassador of the game.