Billie Jean King advocates simpler point system for tennis

Former world number one Billie Jean King has called for a change of rules in tennis. The 80-year-old is regarded as one of the greatest players in women’s tennis history, having won numerous big tournaments during her playing days.

Billie Jean was recently quoted in a report calling for a change of rules in tennis. The California-born legendary tennis player believes that it is hard to attract youngsters to the sport because the point system is confusing. She believes that getting rid of the current point system and turning it to a normal point system of 1, 2, 3, and 4 will help new viewers understand the sport.

She was also of the opinion that players should have a number on the back of their jersey so that the sport can be promoted on similar lines to football, baseball, and basketball, where every athlete has a name on the back of their shirt with a number so they are easily identifiable by people sitting in the arena and by viewers sitting at home as well.

“I cannot stand the scoring,” she said. “I think it's hard to get new people into the sport, particularly young people. I think we should get rid of the 15, 30, 40 game. We should have 1, 2, 3, 4. If you have to win by two, then at three all do two points in a row or whatever but get rid of 15, 30, 40. Every player should have their name and a number on. Why? We need to promote our players like every other sport does. You look at basketball, you look at football, baseball, they have their name and their number. I definitely want two out of three sets. Or we have to play the same amount, men and the women. Because we're getting paid by media content, and women always get shortchanged because of the content.”