
If the tennis community really wants to (excuse the expression) grow the game, then it should consider five simple changes to television broadcasting to make it easier for the casual fan to follow tennis. (Remember them, the casual tv sports fan, the ones all the tennis organizations want to attract?):
- Require singles players to wear differently colored outfits.
How silly is it for competitors to play a televised match wearing exactly the same clothing, in a one-on-one sport? I’ll tell you: very silly. The most recent example was Daria Gavrilova’s match versus Timea Bacsinszky (won by Gavrilova). They wore exactly the same clothing; same colors top and bottom, same manufacturer (Asics). It was snarkily noted in a slew of print and online reports, and not to tennis’ benefit.
C’mon tennis, if the casual fan can’t tell the players apart easily how do you expect them to care about the battle?

A simple fix: the higher ranked player notifies the tournament desk what color they’re planning on wearing. The lower ranked player has to adjust. Voila! The players can now be told apart visually.
Hey, while we’re at it, how about a similar rule for doubles teams?: Partners (i.e, teammates) have to wear the same color top (at least). Not the same manufacturer, and perhaps not the same shorts or skirt, but at least the same color top. Please? Same rules re choices: the top ranked team gets to pick, lower ranked team has to deal. Easy, right?
- Publish a player’s ranking next to their name in all iterations of the draw, including the on screen scoring.
Tennis cannot expect the casual fan to sense how a match is supposed to turn out if they don’t fanatically follow the sport; they’re “casual fans”, right? They’re not familiar with one or both of the players, and they have no idea, none, where the players are in relation to each other in the standings. I mean, c’mon, this is so simple. Jeez, even the tournaments might start printing the draws with this info!
- Devise a means of quantifying the court speed and ball speed that allows all fans to factor those details into their understanding of the match.
Explanation: Rafa Nadal at the French Open. Rafa Nadal at the US Open. ‘Nuff said.
- Incorporate more comparisons to others sports’ speeds, most notably on the serve (but not exclusively).
It’s highly likely the casual tennis fan is a fan of other sports. Doesn’t it make sense to let them know how their favorite athletes’ escapades measure up to tennis? Do you think they know the service box is almost 150x the size of baseball’s home plate, and that (of course) the receiver doesn’t know if the ball’s coming to their right or left? Do they realize a solidly struck groundstroke takes XX seconds to reach the other player, by which time they not only have to be ready to respond but have also decided how and where to hit their reply?
- Use the on-court camera more often.
Without a doubt it’s easier to understand the shot sequence of any point by watching it from above; the ball went from here, to here, to there, then here, then there. Unfortunately it also reduces tennis to a two dimensional game. If you’ve ever failed to bend your knees for a particularly low ball you know that’s not the case. Playing tennis is a three dimensional decision matrix (at least).
On the rare occasions television uses the on-court camera we’re treated to the player’s view. We see what they see. We see much more clearly what they have to deal with. We understand far better that mere mortals like us could never do what they do.
The more visceral appreciation of tennis provided by on-court cameras can only develop more dedicated tennis fans. Once sports fans see how much work there is on what we (almost dismissively) call regulation forehands and backhands, how fast the points are, and how little time players have between shots or for decision making, you have to believe tennis would convert more casual sports fans into tennis fanatics.
And that’s the whole idea.
Note: no decades-old tradition or rule of tennis was harmed in the making of this list.
h/t to Kristine L re tennis speeds v other sports