Becker, Rios Slam State of Tennis

Boris Becker calls it “sick.” Marcelo Rios calls it “boring.”

Men’s tennis is coming under attack again — this time on the eve of the Australian Open.

Becker, the former three-time Wimbledon champion, called for the ATP Tour to stage less tournaments and force the top players to play each other more often.

“It can’t be that Pete Sampras doesn’t have to play against a top 10 player until August — that points to a system that’s literally sick,” Becker told the Berlin daily, the Tagesspiegel.

Rios, the No. 2-ranked player, said the game should be slowed and players allowed to display emotions on court.

“Tennis has gotten boring — unjustifiably so,” the Chilean said in the German magazine, Der Spiegel. “Especially the top players are constantly watched, constantly punished and therefore always more well-behaved.”

Rios echoed the sentiments of former great John McEnroe. The American, known for his outbursts on court, has said the game lacks personalities because few players risk showing emotion.

“That’s true,” Rios said. “It’s schizophrenic and the biggest problem of the tour is not that personalities are lacking, but showing emotions is forbidden. That’s why the top players are so colorless and boring.”

“If I throw a racket, I’m mad at myself,” he said. “I’m not trying to kill anybody. So why do I have to be penalized right away?”

Becker has cut back on his playing schedule the past two seasons to concentrate on his business interests.

He attacked the heavy schedule of players that led to an exodus of top names withdrawing from the season-ending ATP Championships in November.

“What happened at the end of last season can’t be allowed to repeat itself,” Becker said. “That was damaging to tennis. All the withdrawals make it clear the ATP has to slim down. Less tournaments mean higher quality.”

Rios, one of the few return specialists in a sport dominated by hard servers, said the game needed to be slowed down.

“I would slow down the balls and the surfaces or brake racket development,” he said. “Spectators today see a good serve, sometimes a return and that’s all. They can’t enjoy tennis anymore because nothing happens.”

The ATP has announced plans to streamline the tournament schedule while reforming the current computer ranking system.

Rios said he favored plans of the ATP Player’s Union to market the game by casting a three-sided rivalry with him as the bad boy, Pete Sampras as the nice guy and Australia’s Pat Rafter as the favorite of female fans because of his good looks.

“It’s OK that way,” he said. “It’s the truth: We’re the best and we need this rivalry to make the game interesting again.”

Associated Press