Can your age influence your preferences in sports? Age-based preferences in tennis

We are living in a transitional period, where the new generation (Gen Z and in some years to come Gen Alpha) is taking over everything that is related to sports. From sports viewership and attendance to sports content consumption and online sports betting anywhere around the world. The new generation is bringing in new, fresh perspectives on sports, which threaten existing, deep-rooted assumptions and they are fueling changes.

Tennis is one of the sports that has already felt these changes taking place. Being one of the most popular sports across the planet and having hard-core fans from all over the world, tennis could not but be one of the leading sports where the new generations would “impose” their requirements and demands. And these demands would trigger changes…or better yet, would trigger the discussion about changes, because let’s face it, nothing changes over a day.

Novak Djokovic, the world’s top tennis player, has made a very interesting, precise, and to-the-point statement. He said that if tennis is to reach more audiences, become even more popular, or retain the high levels of popularity among the fans of the younger generations, then it has to go with the flow.

And the flow, when we are talking about the Gen Z sports fans, has to do with speed. Gen Zers want everything to be quick, they don’t like to wait long, and they don’t want to invest much of their time in watching a long-lasting tennis match, for example. They like efficiency and they like things fast. Also, they like things to be compressed and condensed: they expect quality to be much more important than quantity. In fact, quantity doesn’t matter to them a lot.

So, taking this back to tennis, Djokovic expressed his support for the best-of-three-sets “movement”, as opposed to the best-of-five sets that are currently applied in the four majors. This is quite true if we consider that the best-of-five sets rule which is now the format in every Grand Slam, requires the players to win three sets to win the match, when every other ATP or WTA tour match requires the players to win two sets to win the match.

That’s a lot more tennis for the players and a lot more tennis for the fans -plus a lot more tennis for the punters, who are searching for more betting opportunities. Which wouldn’t be a matter at all, if we were to think only about the Millennials or Gen X audiences. These generations have a greater appreciation for the long-lasting matches (just like what is happening with the often exhaustive cricket matches, which are bettors’ favorites at Onlinecricketbetting.tv) that have an entire ‘narrative’ and that end up celebrating those players with greater endurance, more strength, greater patience, more advanced strategy, and better mentality. These generations like to be absorbed in longer tennis matches and feel an immersive experience as they watch their favorite players fighting for one more point, game, set, and eventually match.

But younger audiences prefer shorter formats and that’s why many tennis players believe that the best-of-three sets are a much more suitable format, able to retain the interest of Gen Z. Matches need to be more dynamic, faster, and end in a reasonable time. And tennis skills need to be such that they can be showcased in at most three sets (sometimes two are enough), instead of the extended five sets that are typical in the Australian Open, the French Open, the Wimbledon, and the US Open.

Because Gen Z also appreciates good tennis. It’s not that they just want things to get faster. They expect memorable matches, fascinating points and epic games to be made possible on events that do not last so long.

This probably explains why younger fans of tennis are more fond of younger athletes who are able to demonstrate unique speed, dynamic capabilities, and incredible strength in fast-paced matches. Carlos Alcaraz for example has not only topped the rankings in the sport, but he has also topped fans’ and audiences’ hearts. And it’s not only the phenomenal Spanish player, it is everyone who can offer high-dense tennis in a short match!