"Needs to be on major networks": Former Agassi coach Brad Gilbert sees one major problem with tennis making next step

Former world number one Andre Agassi’s ex-coach Brad Gilbert believes tennis should be available on all the major platforms to go to the next level as a sport.

There have been reports about the interest from Saudi Arabia in a potential takeover of the both ATP and the WTA worth $2 billion.

Recently, the oil-rich Middle Eastern country made a similar kind of investment in golf as well which led to the merger of Liv Golf and the PGA Tour.

Gilbert was quoted in a report where he stated that such a takeover can be beneficial for the sport overall but believes that the only reason the sport can go to another level is if it is available for the viewers on every platform.

"The biggest difference between golf and tennis is every weekend, when there's a major golf tournament, especially on the PGA Tour, it's on network television," he said.

"So right now, this tournament (Indian Wells) has an exclusive in the (United) States only on Tennis Channel, which doesn't have a massive cable subscription. It's a good channel, but they don't pay any TV rights to be on right now. So that's something that in the near future needs to happen.

"Tennis needs to be.. big tournaments, especially in Indian Wells, Miami next week, needs to be on major networks to take tennis to the next level where it deserves to be in my humble opinion.”