World No.1 Novak Djokovic says tennis needs to innovate, but that he remains in the dark about a potential rebel tour.
Rumours are growing that a LIV Golf-style elite tennis tour could be launched, possibly as early as 2025, to rival the ATP and WTA tours.
The huge sums of money that a Saudi Arabian-backed league could throw at the world’s top tennis players could prove hard for them to resist.
Djokovic stressed that he does not know what is going on behind the scenes, and has only heard some rumours about what could arise in the future.
But the reigning Australian Open men’s champion is keen to see some changes to the tennis landscape in general, in order to attract more younger fans.
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“I’m generally always supportive of improving the sport,” Djokovic said in Perth ahead of his appearance for Serbia at the mixed-teams United Cup.
“I have said this many times before, that I think that tennis is not using its full potential.
“We are one of the most globally watched and popular sports in the world, but I think that we have been quite conservative and conventional in certain aspects, and that unfortunately hasn’t really been a great appeal to the younger audience.
“I’m a big supporter of our history and tradition and everything, I think we should always nurture that.
“But I think we need to try to adjust to the modern times and try to understand what the younger audience wants and really make the tennis more appealing to that group.
“So that’s in terms of general overview. And where I stand [on talk of a rebel tour], I have no idea what elite tour you’re talking about.
“I have heard rumours as well, but it is, I guess, still early stages and we didn’t see anything concrete out there.”
Women’s world No.5 Jessica Pegula thinks it’s just a matter of time before a rebel tour is launched.
“I think it’s inevitable, to be honest,” the American said.
“There is a lot of talk. I feel like there has been for the past year or so.
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“I feel like it’s going to happen eventually, because money talks, and they have infinite amounts of money and they seem to be involved in every single sport in the world except for ours.
“So I’m sure ours is coming.”
The arrival of LIV Golf caused controversy with some critics labelling it as “sportswashing” designed to distract from Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.
Players who joined that rebel golf tour were initially banned from the PGA and European Tours.
ATP world No.10 Taylor Fritz wonders if the same thing will happen in tennis.
“If it happens, I think the biggest question mark is going to be if you compete on that tour, if you still are going to be able to play slams or not,” Fritz said.
“We’ll see what happens. I can’t really say if it’s a good thing or not until you could see how they would structure the tour, how it would be.
“I do think the way the tour is now there are lots of things that could be improved.”