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Looking ahead
Richard Krajicek ponders the ATP's future
Posted: Friday December 10, 1999 11:06 PM
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Richard Krajicek is happy with the changes the ATP tour has made. |
Men's tennis heads into the new millenium with a fresh face and a plan to make the sport more popular than ever. The ATP Tour has announced a host of proposals for introduction in the year 2000. Among the changes, a radical revamping of the world-ranking system. The ATP's top tournaments, previously known as the Super Nine events, will be renamed the Masters Series and will culminate in the Masters Cup which replaces the World Championship and Grand Slam Cup. There will also be a new, unified global brand for better identity. CNN/SI's Phil Jones talked with one of the world's top players, Holland's Richard Krajicek about the proposed changes.
Richard Krajicek : I don't think you are going to have scenarios anymore, maybe like this year in Wimbledon, where [Pete] Sampras is No. 1 in the world, and he wins Wimbledon, beats [Andre] Agassi who goes to No. 1 which I think that is very confusing. So if you are a leader in the race and you are going to win Wimbledon, you are going to be an even bigger leader in the race.
Phil Jones : So basically, we don't need to pay too much attention to who is world No. 1 at any one point throughout the year. That's not going to carry as much weight as it once did really is it until the very end of the year?
Krajicek : No, like I said, you should basically forget about calling it the world No. 1. I think the best example is Formula One. Michael Schumacher won, I think the first race this year in Formula One and you just say he's ahead in the race, he's first in the standings for the World Championships. So basically, that what's happening. Until the last week of the year, you're just leading in the race for No. 1. After the last tournament is played, then it can be decided who can call himself world No. 1. Up until then, you are just leading the race.
Jones : As players, you say you understood the old system. Do you think this new system is going to bring a kind of excitement to your particular play throughout the year? Give you an added incentive maybe?
Krajicek : I think it will be very interesting. Being a tennis player and loving to compete, you don't really need an extra incentive.
The tournaments and of course the four Grand Slams are very exciting.
And now we've gone from changing the Super Nines to the Master's Series. That's going to be a big event worldwide where all the top players are going to participate. Having all the top 50 players in those events and winning and doing well is incentive enough and motivation enough to do well.
Jones : The ATP Tour is having a big makeover in the sport. Not just the ranking system, they want the fans to get more involved. They want officials to be more lenient with players when they have outbursts on the court. Do you think the sport needed this kind of makeover?
Krajicek : Of course you have to be very smart about what you are doing. You can't go overboard. Tennis is still tennis and you cannot have rituals that maybe you have in soccer, that the fans are really too involved emotionally. I think the players still like it when it's relatively quiet during a rally. But if you compare tennis now and maybe five years ago, nobody was allowed to move or say a word even in the top ring. So I think now, players are most used to a little bit of noise. And I think the players start to appreciate more that the fans are into it. It's nice sometimes when there's a big rally and the people start to go, 'Oooooo, aaahhh,' and they're getting more involved in it. It's good that they are getting very excited. I feel excited about my sport and it's nice to other people getting excited about tennis also.
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