Jessica Pegula agrees with Frances Tiafoe that tennis should probably adopt a basketball-like style, at least in some ways, to reach the younger crowd. In 2016, a study found that the median age of an ATP fan in the United States was 61.
Tennis has always been keen on keeping its traditions and etiquette intact, but now there are fears the game simply isn’t appealing to younger audiences. “I think fans should be able to come and go, move and talk during games.
Imagine you go to a basketball game and you don’t say anything. Aside from keeping some tradition at Wimbledon, we should also start changing things to bring younger fans to the game,” Tiafoe told Forbes magazine.
Pegula agrees with Tiafoe’s point of view
“I mean I like it.
I’m one of those too. It doesn’t really bother me when people stand or scream or talk, maybe not scream. So I can see, yeah, that’s a cool way to look at it. I think yes, to give some personality to the sport we need to start looking at different things to touch a younger generation.
And people like Foe, who have so much personality and so much energy, they love it, and they have such an amazing fan base, and they have so many fans outside of tennis, I think because of its energy. So I think something that could be complimented would really help the sport,” Pegula said.
Tiafoe, who reached the semifinals of last year’s Us Open, loves to bring energy and draw crowds into his matches. During last year’s US Open, this was on full display during Tiafoe’s matches. Tiafoe, who is now widely recognized as one of the top American male players, has remarked on numerous occasions that his goal is to achieve success and also to help the game gain new fans.
