Rafael Nadal criticises shortening of tennis matches to make them TV-friendly

Women's tennis boss Steve Simon told AFP last week that the WTA was considering the possibility of mirroring the changes introduced to non-Grand Slam doubles matches about a decade back. Steve said that changes are being proposed keeping in mind the shortening attention span of the viewers and how much easier it would be for the broadcasters to include all the matches while covering a tournament.

However, former World No.1 Rafael Nadal has opposed these changes as it goes against the 'values' of the sport. He said, "The kind of matches that stay in the memory and on the history of our sport are a little bit long matches and dramatic matches that become emotional.

"If you want to change the values of the sport, maybe yes.

"Tennis has values that we need to follow, in my opinion."

Nadal, who has won 14 Grand Slam titles so far, agrees that the sport needs to adapt to the changing times, but believes that shortening the games is not the way to do so.

"All the sports needs to improve and adapt to the new things. But I am not sure if that's the way to make the matches quicker.

"You need to put everything together to create a great show, to create a show so that the people emotionally feel involved in the match.

"But I am just a player," Nadal added, reported AFP.