Innovation in tennis brings opportunities and challenges - Francesco Ricci Bitti

If you had to select the most exciting innovation you’ve seen in tennis, what would it be?

‘Surely the most exciting technological innovation is the Hawk-Eye (electronic line calling system). It has been a great aid to the referee and the umpire. We took away some of their responsibilities, but it’s a great aid because players prefer the objective system to the discretional system. Secondly, we discovered something that we never imagined Hawk-Eye would give us: better crowd control. Previously in the team competitions, we had problems when the call was debatable. A very famous example was in 2002 in Chile when we had to stop the Davis Cup tie between Chile and Argentina (when spectators threw objects onto the court). Now, with Hawk-Eye, crowd control is very easy because as soon as people see what the call is, they calm down. It fulfills a function that very often people don’t realize but it is very important.’

What are the other key technological innovations on the tennis court?

‘In fact, we’ve had to regulate it since in tennis we don’t admit the coach on court; we said that the player could play with PAT equipment but that they can only look at it at the end of the set, or at the end of the match. We don’t know yet what is going to happen with the PAT because it’s just the beginning. We will have to wait and see in a few years how often the players use it.

‘Another area of innovation is Court Pace Rating technology, which is being developed in cooperation with universities. In tennis it’s very important to measure how fast the bounce of the ball is on court and we also need to measure the sliding coefficient between the shoes (and the court). With this technology we can measure very easily all these kinds of things which helps in manufacturing equipment.

‘People don’t believe it, but the string has been the major factor of change in tennis over the last 10 years. Rafael Nadal is not only the number one player in the world, but he is also the player that has taken most advantage of the new materials – something which has helped him to play with more spin, power and control.’

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‘What we must avoid is technology that affects the outcome of matches, or which changes the essential character of the game.’

Why is the string so important, and what could the impact be if more people take advantage of that technology?

‘Strings have a significant influence on the style of play – it’s the strings that hit the ball, not the racket frame. Some of the modern polyester strings generate much more spin than their predecessors, which allows players to hit the ball harder and it will still land in court. Spin tends to favour the baseline rally style of game, which many top players have developed.’

How do you think all of these innovations will affect the future of the game?

‘I think what we are fighting for is to keep tennis as it is. All the innovation has to be regulated not to change the nature of the game. The game has changed but mostly because the players are more athletic, they are more physical than during my time. Equipment like rackets and strings should improve their performance, but not more than that. We have to make sure that the sport doesn’t change too much. We don’t want to change what works very well and tennis is one of the top sports now. We are lucky to have great champions and great ambassadors at this time with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal – they are not everyday types of players. They are not only great champions, but along with Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, they are also very interesting characters and that is very important in individual sports. So we are lucky but we should not be complacent.’ 

How could new technology change tennis, and what kind of changes would you want to avoid?

‘Technology is playing an ever-more important role in all sports, and tennis is no exception. Every sport must evolve and progress, and technology offers the opportunity for new players to develop their skills, experienced players to analyse their games in more detail, and fans to interact more closely with tennis. What we must avoid is technology that affects the outcome of matches, or which changes the essential character of the game.’