Tiebreak 10s: A concept whose time has arrived
On March 5 when Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Milos Raonic, Gael Monfils, Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic take over the Indian Wells Tennis Garden for a Tie Break Tens night, it will be a peek into the likely future of professional tennis.
Professional sport today is all about engagement, putting bums on seats and keeping them there -- riveted, involved. It is about steadily lowering the age of the average viewer so that viewership broadens. In this age of instant gratification, it means coming up with formats that deliver results faster. Whether the viewer comes to the stadium or the stadium goes to the viewer’s screen (smart phone, tablet or television), the action must be fast-paced, conclusive.
Only one global sport, football, perhaps by the sheer accident of its historical format, already occupies the sweet spot of inter-generational acceptance -- 90 minutes to climax. Others are having to reinvent themselves.
Cricket realised in the 1970s (by accident when a Test between Australia and England was washed out) that five days must be compressed into one. The first decade of the 21st century saw reluctant champions of the new fangled T20 format, India, invent IPL and collapse the day long outing to a primetime evening show with dancing girls, and gladiators with heavy bats destroying hapless hurlers of the red cherry. Quietly but surely a group of businessmen in the UAE, with first tacit and then formal blessings of the ICC, are transforming that into multiple T10 matches designed to occupy the same primetime slot. The ultimate target of the format may well be the motherlode of all prizes -- entry into Olympics.
STAYING RELEVANT
Tennis, already in the Olympics, has long consigned five-setters to the Grand Slams. All other ATP events are three sets long. But clearly, to keep the cash registers ringing amid collapsing attention spans, the sport needs to reinvent itself and find a format that brings in new audience who will ensure its future.
Enter the Tie Break Tens, where every point counts.
It’s a quick-fire version of tennis. Matches involve only tiebreaks – no games, sets or long drawn out dramatic contests where you need a calculator to figure out who won -- just exhilarating ten-point tie-breaks in which every point counts.
A flip of a coin decides who serves first (no, you cannot choose to receive), and the loser decides the side. Like in a normal tie-break, the server has one serve and the opponent serves twice and it alternates every two points. After six points the players change ends. The first player to 10 points, with a difference of two, wins. Only one challenge per player is allowed.
The format kicked off in 2015 in London and has steadily gained traction. Events have been held in Vienna, Madrid, Melbourne and New York. In a sign that this version just might have a future, it has started being accepted at grassroots. TB10 events were already being held throughout the United States, and from last year, with the introduction of TB10 Play, the grass courts of England have seen thousands of children play this version at various levels.
RIGHT EVENT
Indian Wells is the latest to promote it, for charity, two days before the start of the 2019 BNP Paribas Indian Wells Masters 1000. But this is significant, for Indian Wells is the best-attended tennis event in the world outside the Grand Slams. It has also found for the format the best ambassador-- RafaNadal, whois deeply committed to the future of the sport. The fact the entire proceeds from this night will go to local charities will certainly have had something to do with Rafa lending his name to the one night tournament called Eisenhower Cup.
When ‘Rafa and Friends’ step on to the court for the $150,000 winner-take-all event featuring seven matches over an engaging and sold-out three hours of high quality tennis, it will be another step towards ensuring the long-term presence of an audience for tennis, on court and on smart phones across the globe.