22 replies to this topic

[F.M.]

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.

http://www.gptoday.c...boss_of_tennis/


Sounds like Tennis escaped...

[akshay380]

Tennis was lucky!

[MP422]

Tennis was lucky!

Nice sig

[Certinfy]

Tiriac and Ecclestone are two huge clowns.

Wouldn't mind them taking over women's tennis though, what a joke that is.

[Watkins74]

Tiriac and Ecclestone are two huge clowns.

Wouldn't mind them taking over women's tennis though, what a joke that is.

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS! I used to be a huge men's tennis fan but it is so boring now you couldn't pay me to watch it. I find the woman's game with actual volleying and moving the opponent around far more interesting

[OO7]

Tennis was lucky!

[OO7]

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS! I used to be a huge men's tennis fan but it is so boring now you couldn't pay me to watch it. I find the woman's game with actual volleying and moving the opponent around far more interesting

I agree with you Watkins. Having said that, the Fed, Nadal match at Wimbledon a few years back was simply outstanding.

[Brother Fox]

Awww, I wanted to see artificially flooded tennis courts

[McLarenNo1]

They could have livened up the show by forcing players to use poor quality tennis rackets with strings that break often to force racket change and also cap number of spares. They could also make rackets worse year on year until tennis players are forced to hit shots at a slower speed for durability reasons. We will then see who is best at strategy and string management . Do you go for strong first part of match to try and win early but risk running out of new rackets or do you force your competitor to work harder earlier while minimising impact on strings so at end of match you can come back and win dramatically.

[Jagjon]

They could have livened up the show by forcing players to use poor quality tennis rackets with strings that break often to force racket change and also cap number of spares. They could also make rackets worse year on year until tennis players are forced to hit shots at a slower speed for durability reasons. We will then see who is best at strategy and string management . Do you go for strong first part of match to try and win early but risk running out of new rackets or do you force your competitor to work harder earlier while minimising impact on strings so at end of match you can come back and win dramatically.

If it be judged to be a good match or not might depend on the player with the balls to go for a win, & stuff all the management.

[mtknot]

Timed tennis would be interesting for the sport, especially if there was a time limit. Next minute we'll have the 24 hrs of Roland Garros ....

[Jejking]

Dammit. SO CLOSE.

[R Soul]

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

He can dish it out but he can't take it.

[swerved]

Advantage, Tennis.

[monaco]

Game, set, match to TENNIS

[Jimisgod]

Awww, I wanted to see artificially flooded tennis courts

Tennis shoes that fall apart after only 20 minutes? A system that gives hits more power when you are close to leveling with your opponent? Only 8 rackets allowed per year?

[Lee Nicolle]

They could have livened up the show by forcing players to use poor quality tennis rackets with strings that break often to force racket change and also cap number of spares. They could also make rackets worse year on year until tennis players are forced to hit shots at a slower speed for durability reasons. We will then see who is best at strategy and string management . Do you go for strong first part of match to try and win early but risk running out of new rackets or do you force your competitor to work harder earlier while minimising impact on strings so at end of match you can come back and win dramatically.

THIS IS THE WINNING ENTRY!

[kedia990]

They could have livened up the show by forcing players to use poor quality tennis rackets with strings that break often to force racket change and also cap number of spares. They could also make rackets worse year on year until tennis players are forced to hit shots at a slower speed for durability reasons. We will then see who is best at strategy and string management . Do you go for strong first part of match to try and win early but risk running out of new rackets or do you force your competitor to work harder earlier while minimising impact on strings so at end of match you can come back and win dramatically.

Alongside being the funniest thing I've read in a while, this quite genuinely sums up everything wrong with F1 at the moment.

[KiloWatt]

They could have livened up the show by forcing players to use poor quality tennis rackets with strings that break often to force racket change and also cap number of spares. They could also make rackets worse year on year until tennis players are forced to hit shots at a slower speed for durability reasons. We will then see who is best at strategy and string management . Do you go for strong first part of match to try and win early but risk running out of new rackets or do you force your competitor to work harder earlier while minimising impact on strings so at end of match you can come back and win dramatically.

This needs to be published somewhere for the world to see. Very well done!

[Afterburner]

They could have livened up the show by forcing players to use poor quality tennis rackets with strings that break often to force racket change and also cap number of spares. They could also make rackets worse year on year until tennis players are forced to hit shots at a slower speed for durability reasons. We will then see who is best at strategy and string management . Do you go for strong first part of match to try and win early but risk running out of new rackets or do you force your competitor to work harder earlier while minimising impact on strings so at end of match you can come back and win dramatically.

Well played.

[BigCHrome]

They could have livened up the show by forcing players to use poor quality tennis rackets with strings that break often to force racket change and also cap number of spares. They could also make rackets worse year on year until tennis players are forced to hit shots at a slower speed for durability reasons. We will then see who is best at strategy and string management . Do you go for strong first part of match to try and win early but risk running out of new rackets or do you force your competitor to work harder earlier while minimising impact on strings so at end of match you can come back and win dramatically.

What a joke F1 has become.

[Sakae]

Imagine Pirelli making tennis balls to spice up a game...

[Gilles4Ever]

This has nothing to do with motorsport.