Mouratoglou spoke to Metro.co.uk (Picture: Getty Images)

Patrick Mouratoglou wants tennis to change.

Not the rules, per se – although he’s clear about certain laws of the game that need changes. Rather, he wants attitudes towards the sport to be shifted.

His arguments are compelling and delivered in such an articulate, open and well thought out manner that’s it’s hard not to be persuaded by his outlook.

We’re sat in his office at the famed Mouratoglou academy. There are items scattered around the room such as signed memorabilia from Andy Murray – the former world No. 1 also has a court named after him on the site like great rival Novak Djokovic and, of course, Serena Williams, who he coaches – and John McEnroe.




But one piece stands out more than the rest: a pair of boxing gloves, signed by Mike Tyson, take pride of place on his desk.

‘Who’s not a fan of Tyson? Especially at my age,’ Mouratoglou says exclusively to Metro.co.uk. ‘All the people at my age we were waking up every time he was boxing – even though we were not boxing fans – at 3 o’clock in the morning to watch two minutes because before the first round he would kill the guy. He was such a superstar.’

It becomes increasingly clear why Mouratoglou is such an admirer of the American heavyweight. He loves the show.

A pair of Mike Tyson’s gloves sit in his office (Picture: Getty Images)

While boxing is never short of knockout blows, name-calling and drama, Mouratoglou thinks tennis has become ‘flat’.

‘We have to live in our century and tennis is very much behind other sports,’ he says. ‘I’m talking to the big governing bodies around the world to try and change that because we need to, it’s the moment. If we don’t do it now it’s going to be too late.’

Many have expressed concerns about how tennis will cope in the era beyond the ‘Big Four’ and Serena Williams, but Mouratoglou’s fears lie off the court.

‘I’m not thinking about the players, I’m thinking about the figures,’ he adds. ‘If you look at the figures, the average age of the tennis fan is 62 years old. If we don’t do it now, it’s too late.

‘Obviously the way tennis is run all around the world is not the right way because we’re not attractive to young people. We’re attractive to old people and even then I’m not sure we’re attractive, I think it’s the fans of tennis who came in the 70s and 80s and stayed, who are still fans.

‘So 10 years ago the average age was 52. Now it’s 62. So in 10 years it will be 72 if we don’t move now. It’s time to move. It’s time to realise that tradition is fantastic but if because of tradition and only tradition you lose everyone it’s less fantastic so you have to keep some tradition to this sport of course but you also have to live in your century.

Mouratoglou works with tennis great Serena Williams (Picture: Getty Images)

‘That’s the big thing, the next thing we have to do in the next years but not too late. Before it’s too late. There is a big change that has to happen to our sport now. Now.‘



Mouratoglou anticipates the punchline when told of an example of a young person who isn’t fond of tennis.

‘But the only thing she likes is Nick Kyrgios. I knew it,’ he smiles. ‘It’s the same for everybody. And why? Because Nick Kyrgios is giving to people what tennis doesn’t give to them. It’s simple.

‘If you look at the sports that are incredibly successful, especially to this generation, soccer, all the American sports… look at what they have and what we don’t have. It’s not that complicated. If tennis didn’t make those changes it’s because of the people who I call “the traditional people” who refuse any kind of change.

‘It’s not about changing the game. A game is a game. I don’t think we will change… should have shorter sets. No, do simple things to let people enter through a door that makes them be excited. If you let all the players express themselves, show who they are.

Kyrgios splits opinion (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)

‘You will have people who like or dislike players and then be excited by the show. If we don’t know who is who because everyone is behaving the same then it’s boring. We don’t think it’s boring because we love tennis. But bring someone who doesn’t love tennis and they will think it’s incredibly boring.’

Though he accepts football will be hard to oust as the most watched sport on the planet, he is passionate about keeping tennis high on the agenda and fearful of its decline.


‘I watched yesterday (Manchester United vs Barcelona in the Champions League) and I’m not a soccer fan and you have 10 reasons to jump from your couch,’ he adds. ’10 times, 20 times.

‘And then you go to the café and you order a drink and you say “oh this happened and this guy and this is not normal…” – there is emotion, there is controversy and we need that. Otherwise it’s flat. We are flat. And we could be incredibly exciting. Kyrgios is the only guy who makes it not flat, this is why everyone is after him.’

Mouratoglou was, of course, a major protagonist in tennis’ biggest controversy of the last decade.

Caught red handed when trying to pass Williams instructions in the infamous 2018 US Open final, Williams then lost her cool branding umpire Carlos Ramos a ‘sexist’ and a ‘thief’ in remarkable scenes at Flushing Meadows.

Williams rowed with umpire Ramos at Flushing Meadows (Picture: Corbis via Getty Images)

Mouratoglou’s desire for more controversy begs the question: was Serena’s meltdown actually good for tennis?

‘You understand it’s a very difficult question to answer for me,’ Mouratogou laughs.’But you know the answer. You know the answer.

‘I think Hawk-Eye is a mistake, too. It shouldn’t be ok. Again, no controversy. Before, McEnroe was crazy. It was great. We had fun. Now, “oh the ball is out, okay”. Flat.

‘Technology is great, it’s fantastic. But come on, we don’t want everything to be flat. We want to argue because the ball was in and we’re so disappointed because my player – I mean as a fan – lost because of this awful chair umpire and then you have something to talk about with your friends and then there is controversy. People watch.


‘You watch a movie to have emotions. You watch sport to have emotions. If you cut all the emotion, why would you look at tennis itself? Because you are crazy with the sport itself… Yes, it’s a very few people. If you want to bring new people to tennis you have to think how. It’s not the right way.

‘Hawk-Eye is a mistake. No coaching is a mistake. Code of conduct is a mistake. Big mistake. Big mistake. Let people be themselves on a tennis court, then people have a chance to get to know them, like them, dislike them and when they’re going to watch a match something is going to happen they’re going to root for somebody and they’re going to have emotions. Otherwise you’re going to root for nobody.’

Mouratoglou has written passionately about coaching before and made no secret of his desire for it to be implemented across the board as is currently the case on the WTA Tour.

The status of coaching in tennis needs reforming. Read my opinion below pic.twitter.com/qLKIINwqbx — Patrick Mouratoglou (@pmouratoglou) October 18, 2018

‘Coaching on the court… look at what’s happening in other sports. It’s so exciting to watch,’ he says. ‘It brings show, otherwise you have no show. It’s very exciting.

‘You don’t have interaction, you don’t get to learn the strategies for the guy who is watching. It’s so interesting the strategy, why do this, why do this? Then you have suddenly, in the final in Indian Wells (between Bianca Andreescu and Angelique Kerber). The coach was great I think, he did an unbelievable job and the match suddenly completely switched.

‘It was so exciting. I think the speech was inspiring. The guy was really, really great. He did a great job and he changed the match. It was really exciting to witness.

‘And sometimes it’s going to be something else, sometimes they’re going to fight. You know the player, because you see the player in a moment of emotion. It’s something you never see. I’m fed up with perfection. Nobody is perfect. Don’t try to show something that is fake. People don’t like fake. You create fake.’

“I want this so bad!”@Bandreescu_ has been in sensational form since her last conversation with coach Sylvain Bruneau.#BNPPO19 pic.twitter.com/RuOStbsMgE — WTA (@WTA) March 17, 2019

The issue, he believes, extends to treatment of the players.

‘Serena it’s not true, she is criticised more than anyone. But Federer, yes. If you criticise Federer or Nadal… it’s impossible to say something,’ Mouratoglou says.

‘Okay they’re perfect, fantastic. And? They’re sports icons, they’re the best players of all time. It’s difficult to criticise them, they’re perfect. Nobody is perfect.

‘But we’re not here to show their imperfections, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m just saying it’s exciting to have a real world to witness and take part of as a fan be excited by some players, dislike others and feel emotions when you’re watching a show.

‘Tennis should permit that, that’s what I’m saying. So let’s do it now.’

It’s abundantly clear Mouratoglou wants to make sweeping changes in tennis. Indeed, he has written to all the sport’s governing bodies in a bid to encourage action. But one widely-documented change courtesy of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has irked the Frenchman.

Federer and Nadal escape criticism, Mouratoglou believes (Picture: Getty Images)

‘This new… reform we say in French, let’s call it rules,’ he becomes increasingly more animated at the mention of the highly controversial World Tennis Tour. ‘It’s a disaster. It’s a disaster.

‘The positive thing of the ITF is it’s the only governing body that changes things. That’s great. They say we want to change things. The negative thing is what they change is wrong. This has to come back to what it was before. Definitely. Definitely.

‘Otherwise tennis is going to be also for that reason will be in trouble. We go through a tough time. It’s time to move. To wake up. It’s time to wake up.

‘It’s like a career of a player. One or two or three important moments you have to take the right decisions and then your career goes… if you don’t take decisions – which is something happening for too long now – or you make the wrong decisions then you kill your career. That’s exactly what is happening to tennis at the moment.’

Serena Williams singles record under Mouratoglou Australian Open: Winner (2015, 2017)

French Open: Winner (2015)

Wimbledon: Winner (2012, 2015, 2016)

US Open: Winner (2012, 2013, 2014)

Olympics: Gold (2012)

What exactly is the problem with the new system?

‘The problem is simple,’ he concludes. ‘If you don’t have players between 100 and 1000 in the world, a good group of players who work hard to get to the top of the game, there is no tennis anymore.

‘They’re making tennis because they’re going to be the ones at the top of the game. If tomorrow they stop playing or their level goes down because only the rich guys can play and the good guys will not play anymore – that’s what is starting to happen – then you’re finished.

‘The level is going to drop. The problem is it’s incredibly expensive already and all the players in 100 to 1000 in the world are struggling.

‘The good decision is to find a way to give much more prize money to those people. It’s not normal that a guy who is 150 in the world doesn’t make a living. What is this? There is so much money in that sport. This is not normal.

Mouratoglou called for change (Picture: Getty Images)

‘A guy who is 400 in the world should make a living. So, this would be good decisions and there are ways to do that. Definitely ways.

‘The problem is, with the ITF rules it’s even worse. Now you have to go through juniors – there’s no other option – so you start to spend twice more money than before. It doesn’t make any sense.

‘There is no chance this is going to work. No chance. So you know what is going to happen? A lot of guys are going to stop.

‘Then they’ll do something else, they might go into a club to teach tennis and the guys who are going to play is the guys who have rich parents so the level is going to be low. Not all of them but most of them so you’re done. This has to stop straightaway.’