After the 2019 Season, Gilles Simon spoke about changes in tennis and the way spectators see it.
Simon ended his 2019 season as the number 55 of the ATP Ranking. He played a total of 54 matches and won the half of them. Many new rules changes or formats are seen on ATP Tour now. ATP Next Gen Finals is played on best of 5 sets to 4. About the changes, Simon said:
"I do not know when and how it happened, but it turns out that tennis has become too long for people. So we change, because it's fashionable, and we're getting shorter and shorter. Soon, we will be asked to play in 40 minutes, like a TV series, on the grounds that young people can no longer stay 3 hours in front of the television.
"But the spectator, either you give in to his whim or you educate him. We, it's been a long time we chose to give in to his whim. And it becomes the circus, at all levels. The problem is that there is not a guy who is confident about the future of our sport.
"Everyone believes that tennis will sink, so everyone tries new things in their own area. And no one realizes that it is precisely by changing everything, all the time, that it becomes anything. Tennis is a sport that must be part of its long tradition. Instead, we wanted to make it a marketing product. "
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