The 2024 Tennis Season Will Be Epic

Although it seems that I barely said that tennis would have its short off season, the 2024 season will be back in two days. I cannot tell you how excited I am for 2024. Rafa will be coming back, but my expectations are super low. I don't expect him to do anything special, but I'm just going to enjoy every single match with Rafa starting in Brisbane.

There are other players that are coming back that are super exciting. Angelique Kerber, remember Angelique Kerber? A lot of people forgot about her. She's coming back next year. Emma Raducanu is coming back, and Naomi Osaka is coming back. Just imagine if Naomi Osaka can play at the same level that she normally plays. This is going to toss up the top of the game. She could be right in that mix of Rybakina, Sabalenka, Gauff and Swiatek. However, the greatest thing about 2024 is going to be the Olympics in Paris.

Olympic Goals

I'm a big fan of the Olympic tennis tournament, and I place its value super high. Everybody that's a real tennis fan knows that Novak Djokovic has zero Olympic titles. Nevertheless, I’m sure it is his top priority in 2024. Maybe it is close to the importance of winning a Grand Slam title. If you look at players like Monica Puig or Nicolas Massu, who both have Olympic titles, I'm sure they wouldn't trade that for a Grand Slam tournament.

So Djokovic wants this Olympic gold really badly. Can he get it? Of course, he absolutely can. He's the best player of 2023. But there's going to be a lot of pressure, and to my understanding, it's going to be played on clay, which complicates things a little bit for Djokovic, especially if Rafa is going to play at his absolute best. If Alcaraz is going to play at his absolute best, it's going to be a tough tournament for Djokovic to win. Hence, it might be tough, but Djokovic loves challenges.

2023 Wrap-Up

I'm going to quickly wrap up 2023. It was the year of Novak Djokovic, absolute dominance at his age. What he was able to do this year is truly spectacular and has never been seen in the history of tennis. But 2023 was also the arrival of Jannik Sinner, who has established himself as one of the top guys.

I equate Sinner now at the same level as Alcaraz, even though Sinner has not won a Grand Slam tournament yet. I was unbelievably impressed with Sinner's performance against Djokovic in the Davis Cup, but even more so in the doubles thereafter where he completely blasted Djokovic and Kachmanovich off the court. There is no doubt in my mind, Sinner now is at the same level as Alcaraz and Djokovic. Any tournament this guy shows up, he's got a great chance to win it.

Now, what was the best match of 2023? Well, for me, the most entertaining match of 2023 was the Wimbledon final, by far. As far as the quality of tennis, I would say it was the Cincinnati final. That was some of the most amazing tennis that I've ever seen. So those two matches stand out for me. As far as the women, the French Open final between Swiatek and Muchova was not only the most entertaining match to watch, but it also featured the highest quality of play.

Future Concerns

One thing I want to talk about that worries me a little bit about the future of tennis, and that is the shortening of tennis. I think this is something that's going to come down the years, and this is not something that's imminent. I don't think it's going to be good for tennis.

Let me just tell you what I've been observing. So at the junior circuit for a while now, the third set has pretty much been abolished. Unless you're playing a national-level tournament, if you're playing any regular tournament around here, you're not going to play a third set. You're going to play a third set super tiebreak up to 10.

Okay, so we can deal with that to some extent. We see this in doubles even on the tour. But now, that's not enough. Sets are played up to four, and that's something that I don't like. I do think that a set should go up to six. And very recently, I've heard that not only have they cut the sets down to four, but now at some tournaments, they only play one set up to four.

Keeping Traditions Alive

When it comes to more traditional aspects of tennis, such as its scoring system, under no circumstance should this ever be tinkered with. Why? Well, the shorter you make a tennis match, the more that match can be influenced by things such as luck. Listen, in the modern world of short attention span where all the content that's consumed is of short duration, I understand that tennis is going this way.

The Next Gen Finals is a perfect example because they play sets up to four, and they experiment with not allowing the players to warm up. I just have a feeling that tennis is going in this direction because the best of five has disappeared from the regular tour. They used to play best of five finals at Masters Series tournaments. Now that doesn't exist anymore.

My worry is that they're going to cut the best of five at Grand Slams, maybe in the early rounds, and they're only going to leave it in the later rounds. And let me tell you one thing about the best matches in the history of tennis. They're all best-of-five tennis matches. Nobody remembers short matches. Just be honest with yourself.

The matches that stand out to you as the greatest matches that you've ever seen have all been five-set battles. Now, do you want the match to go on forever like Isner and Mahut? No, you don't. And that's why the tiebreak is one of the greatest inventions ever in tennis because sets used to go on back in the day. The sets used to finish 16-40 or 22-20. So they invented the tiebreak, and this is a great way to cap the set. The set is finally going to end.

5th Set Entertainment

I don't mind the tiebreak in the fifth set as well. When you have a tennis tournament, the matches are going to be on all day, and you kind of pick and choose what you want to watch, right? So it's going to be rare that you sit through a four or five-hour match. I will only usually do that when Djokovic or Alcaraz are playing.

However, when I'm looking at the draw and when I see that a match is in the fifth set, this is where I want to tune in. I want to watch it really badly. And I think that's how a lot of people consume tennis. They might not be watching from the first minute, but when that match gets tight, when it gets into the fourth or fifth set, when it's a real battle, I think that's when a lot of people tune in.

Final Thoughts

My worry is that tennis is going in a direction of shorter matches where best of five eventually is going to become obsolete. I think that's a shame because think of it this way: if you have a player like Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer, where are these players the hardest to beat? Out of the best of five sets.

In a Grand Slam tournament, you have to win three sets against Djokovic. In a regular tournament, you have to win two sets. Not that winning two sets against Djokovic is easy. It's hard enough. And I do think that the best players will prevail and be at the top of the rankings regardless of what system is in place, whether it's a short scoring format or a long scoring format. The best players are going to be on top.

But having said that, I love the idea of the hardest challenge in tennis being beating the best players in the best of five match at a Grand Slam tournament. My hope is that this never gets taken away from us because I do think that tennis will suffer tremendously because of it.