Tennis is Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changing

In his song, “Changes,” the late great singer-songwriter David Bowie once sang, “…Ch-ch-changes…there’s gonna have to be a different man.”

Well, lately, one man who happens to be one of the most famous tennis coaches in the world is telling the world of professional tennis that it, too, needs to change and be different in some ways to grow its fan base and stay vibrant as a sport.

That man is French tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou, current coach of Serena Williams, Simona Halep and many others. Mouratoglou has recently gone on public record to express his concerns about the aging global tennis fan base and to suggest new ways to attract younger people into the sport. 

One of the ways that Mouratoglou suggests for reaching younger fans and players is to speak their language, which is digital, meet them where they are, which is on digital and social media channels, and speak to them in an attractive and relatable way, which is by delivering valuable tennis content and experiences that are fun and more engaging.

Net-net (pun intended), Mouratoglou is advising all of us in the broader tennis world to turn some of our programming in a more digital, Web3.0 direction. Specifically, Mouratoglou has taken his own advice by launching:

1. The Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) tournament series with a brand-new game format at his Tennis Academy location in the French Riviera.
   
2. “The Coach” NFT collection of 2000 NFT cards (by the way, if you’re confused about the definition of an NFT, listen to Mouratoglou’s simple explanation in this short video clip).

As an amateur tennis player with a technology marketing professional background, I recently enjoyed watching this video interview between Mouratoglou and InsideW3B YouTube channel host Marco Montemagno. Here’s why:

• From a tennis perspective, the video highlights Mouratoglou’s insights about today’s digital tennis landscape.
• From a marketing perspective, the NFT project ideas that Mouratoglou references in the video are “in the now” examples of how NFTs are being used for experiential marketing today and how communities being forged around NFTs are part of the continued evolution of customer relationship marketing.
• From a human development perspective, Mouratoglou’s words about bringing a positive outlook to life are inspirational.

At Love-Love Tennis, we have a true passion for the game of tennis. We love-love the history of tennis and its many traditions, like the ATP, the WTA, the Open Era, and the Grand Slams. Yet, at the same time, we love-love all the new approaches and technologies being used by players, coaches, tennis-related product manufacturers, tennis associations and event organizers to modernize the game and attract more individuals to the sport.

So, no matter if the tennis world keeps ch-ch-ch-ch-changing, we’ll keep love-loving it.