Patrick Mouratoglou has one regret about the Laver Cup: the scoring. According to We Love Tennis, the creator of the UTS, an exhibition played with different rules and a different points system, finds the format too traditional. He welcomes the super tie-break in the third set, which keeps matches from running too long, but he would have liked to go “much further”.
“The scoring system should be completely rethought,” he wrote, before concluding that “on the whole, this format is great”.
Maxime read the post on the 7.32 train. He reached the newsroom with one question, then four.
Silly question, but if the score can be completely rethought, does that mean 15-30-40 was never compulsory? I’m told it’s tradition, fine, but what does that mean? I asked three colleagues who decided on the 15. I checked, and actually nobody knows. And now a man who organises matches explains that even a modern competition still counts the old way. So everybody knew it was odd, except me, who found it odd. I wrote “super tie-break” in my notebook. I don’t know yet what’s so super about it. Anyway, I still have a lot to learn.
Mouratoglou adds that this regret doesn’t affect “the quality of the product” in any way. Maxime underlined “product” twice in his notebook, without knowing why a tournament is one.
It’s true, we checked: We Love Tennis.
