Ecclestone+Becker+Tiriac

TennisLovaLova

Hall of Fame
Just saw this on twitter actually

http://www.worldcarfans.com/113032655712/ecclestone-almost-took-over-tennis---report


Bernie Ecclestone has revealed how close he came to changing forever the international game of tennis.

Sportsvibe reports that the F1 chief executive led a consortium including legend Boris Becker and former player turned businessman Ion Tiriac that wanted to take over the game a decade ago.

Ecclestone, who said the trio came "very close" to running tennis, said the International Tennis Federation ultimately asked for "too much money".

"I argued that the sport needed to be better geared towards television," he said.

"We would have introduced one serve only per point and also a timed cut-off point to a match so that everyone knew, especially the TV companies, how long a match would last.

"Another idea we had was to segment the match into two or three, timed parts of, say, 20 minutes each. I admit it was radical but the sport needed to do something, although it has improved a little since our talks," he added.


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It's too good lol. Hey guys remember when Becker and Tiriac and some other mofo almost ran tennis?
 
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jrs

Professional
Ecclestone he did a great job with F1 - but I stopped watching that now - too gimicky.

Although, I suppose most people do play a timed match in tennis due to court restrictions.

TV ratings in Tennis is it up or down?
 

jrs

Professional
Why doesn't Bernie E. have a Exhibition tournament with Federer, Nadal, Jokovic & Murray at one his formula 1 tracks during the formula 1 week - winner gets say $10M with his rules. See how it turns out - since it's exhibition it wouldn't involve ITF or ATP etc right?
 

slowfox

Professional
I recall seeing some good juniors play points with one serve only. Probably just to train them to get the darn serve in all the time.
 

Devilito

Hall of Fame
I'd be in favor of changing some rules. No lets on serves. One serve, maybe some sort of time limit on matches but capped off with a tie-break if the score is tied in games. Getting 2 points for a volley winner... Heck i'd be favored if like baseball, the pros had to go back to wood racquets.
 

big ted

Legend
after the blue clay fiasco last year im glad they didnt take over...they could have ruined tennis with player boycotts
 
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