(Reuters) – World number one Andy Murray has voiced his support for changes designed to speed up tennis being tested at the inaugural Next Generation ATP Finals in Milan this November.
The tournament for the leading tour players aged 21 and under will feature a new scoring system, no lets, limited medical time-outs and shot clocks as the men’s governing body seeks ways to appeal to younger audiences.
The scoring system is the most radical change to the traditional format, with five-set matches decided through first-to-four-game sets, instead of the usual six, with tiebreaks played at 3-3.
“Tennis is doing very well right now but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s going to be the case in the future, so I think it’s important to try new formats, different scoring systems and see if it works,” Murray told reporters.
“It is good to try new things… at least it’s trying something different. You have to give credit for doing that, because tennis has often been accused of being too traditional, not wanting to try new things.”
The only new rule that Murray specifically opposed was the no-advantage scoring rule, where each game will be decided by a sudden-death point at deuce.
“I would prefer to try a shorter set with the same scoring, rather than the sudden-death deuce points,” Murray added.
