On Monday night Lleyton Hewitt and Roger Federer debuted a new form of tennis, Fast4 Tennis. Fast4 Tennis has been dubbed the Twenty20 of tennis, as has every other shortened version of a sport, and is reportedly set to revolutionise the game.
For those not well versed in the new format, the players play five first-to-four game sets, with a first-to-five tie-breaker if the scores are locked at three games all.
On top of this, there are no deuces and it is play-on if a serve hits the let cord. Sets are expected to last approximately 20 minutes and it’s hoped the fans are given an hour of non-stop, fast-paced tennis action.
I can understand the thinking behind the concept. Tennis needs a way to increase its popularity outside of the eight weeks a year the Grand Slams are being played. Many also feel that tennis matches have become boring, long battles that simply turn viewers off.
I get that, but this gimmick is not the way to achieve this.
There are so many reasons why people don’t watch tennis outside the Grand Slams and it’s not because the sets are first to six or serves that hit the let cord are replayed.
Outside of the month leading into the Australian Open, Wimbledon and Australian Davis Cup ties, tennis is not broadcast free-to-air in Australia, if at all. Tennis just simply isn’t accessible enough for casual fans all around the world. Increase exposure and you’re bound to increase the number of fans. Granted this is hard to do in Australia and New Zealand due to timezone constraints, but there are a number of tournaments in Asia and America that would be watched if they were accessible.
Channel Seven’s 7Two and 7Mate stations are perfect for this purpose. Already we have seen Channel Seven shift tennis to these networks and provide wall-to-wall coverage online and on hybrid televisions, but now they need to add to that by broadcasting other Grand Slam lead-in events, like Queens in London or Indian Wells in America. Even if these tournaments were broadcast solely on their Plus7 system it would be a bonus for tennis in Australia.
An argument behind Fast4 tennis is that regular tennis has become too slow, long and boring. Again, this is not because sets are first to six. There are two primary reasons that tennis has become boring, both of them interlinked.
Firstly, one style of tennis has swept across the professional circuit, the baseline slog-athon. Baseline rallies have become the norm in men’s tennis, with very few players willing to take the risk and come in to the net. Players like Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are able to just keep running to the ball and hit it back until their opponent eventually makes an unforced error or they see an opening and pull the trigger for a winner. But they rarely pull the trigger if they’re not certain their shot is a winner. Rallies regularly last for over 30 shots when just two decades ago they often lasted just 3.
Speaking of those three-shot rallies; they were what triggered this change in playing style. Many fans, and even current players, hated the serve-volley style of play. The likes of Pete Sampras would deliver a booming serve, run straight into the net and put the soft return away. Do it four points in a row and the game is over within minutes. These matches did not last long and there were very few actual rallies.
The players played this way because the courts allowed it. Every court surface except for clay that is. Back then the grass at Wimbledon was much faster than it is today and a number of matches were played indoors on what became known as carpet.
On courts as quick as the old Wimbledon and the carpet it was simply not possible to play the baseline slog that we see today. The courts were simply too fast. But today – and this is reason number two for the rise of boring points – the courts have all converged to a slower pace that enables that current style of play.
Obviously the officials’ desire to eliminate three-point rallies has led to a swing too far in the opposite direction. Clearly something needs to be done but Fast4 isn’t the way to go. A divergence of the different court surfaces with some quickening up will better restore balance in the game and produce more exciting styles of play.
Who is to say that players will change their style of play if we are playing competitive Fast4 more regularly? Federer and Hewitt delivered some stunning rallies but this was an exhibition match and they were at times clearly deliberately playing shots to keep the rally alive rather than putting it away.
If administrators are hoping that shortening the length of matches without altering the style of play that has turned viewers away in the first place will change viewer’s habits they are deluded. All they are doing is simply papering over the cracks. The only way to change Nadal’s style of play and to force him to play in a more exciting manner is to make Fast4 ranking points free or make his style of play less effective. Otherwise there is no need for Nadal to change his style of play.
I’m not criticising Nadal, he has found an effective style of play and used it to his advantage, but his style of play shouldn’t work on all court surfaces.
It’s not all bad for Fast4 tennis however. There is one use in particular where I am a big fan: for children. Sometimes first-to-six game sets can just last too long for young children and the adjusted rules for this format make for a shorter, more free-flowing game.
Hopefully the format will encourage more parents to put their children in the sport and help grow the player base around the world.
Tennis is a sport with a number of problems, some of them less public than others, and these problems need to be addressed. Fast4 is a fun format but I just don’t feel it addresses the root of the problems. What do you think? Is Fast4 Tennis here to stay?
Follow Cameron on Twitter: @fromthesheds
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