Serena Williams former coach believes tennis is in dire straits

Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka’s former coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, shared his thoughts with Eurosport on the state of the sport. Mouratoglou believes professional tennis is declining in popularity at an alarming rate.

If he is correct, the ATP and WTA Tours should be evaluating what he is saying and making their own adjustments. There is no indication that is occurring.

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What Williams former coach said

In his mid 50s, Mouratoglou describes the sport as appealing to an older demographic.

He believes the younger generation is not as invested. They watch video snippets and recaps of matches instead of tuning in live.

Mouratoglou believes it is possible that tennis will lose more fans than it gains in the generations to come.

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Is he right?

Players play in empty stadiums on any given week of the ATP and WTA Tours, except for Grand Slams. It was jarring to see the Miami Open women’s final played with empty seats when Florida native Coco Gauff played for the title.

The personalities have changed. Charismatic athletes like Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe ruled the 1980s, Andre Agassi carried the mantle in the 1990s, and since the early 2000s, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic dominated the sport.

On the women’s side, Aryna Sabalenka has the universal appeal. Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula have plenty of personality.

Times have changed. Other sports compete for fan interest, and social media allows fans to follow tennis from afar.

In the US, it could be attributed to not having a World No 1 player. Andy Roddick was the last US man to hold the World No. 1 ranking in 2003, and Serena Williams was the last American woman to do so in 2017.