Serena Williams’ coach starts new tennis league: What’s it all about?

Patrick Mouratoglou, Serena Williams’ coach, announced Saturday that he is starting a new tennis league. Named the UTS, or Ultimate Tennis Showdown, is to begin in May at his tennis Academy in France without fans present.

With the coronavirus placing tennis on hold until mid-July at the earliest, Mouratoglou’s new league will be something new to keep an eye on once the May 16th match between 16th-ranked David Goffin and 103rd-ranked Alexei Popyrin takes place.

The league’s plan, is to live-stream 10 matches per weekend for five weeks in May and June.

Is this good for tennis?

It’s unlikely what would happen to the league in June after the five weeks finish. If it’s successful, it’s possible that the league continues its weekend schedule until ATP/WTA tournament play can resume as normal. The next Grand Slam event scheduled to take place on tour is the US Open, which is slated for an August 31st main draw start. It doesn’t sem plasuible for the league to continue past that at the latest, as most of the top players on tour will be focused on the packed 2020 schedule that is slated to begin once the postponement is lifted.

For now, however, it’s  a great way for fans to see the tour’s stars back on court in a real match setting. It’ll give a fresh start to the 2020 season and a bridge for better times moving forward in the season. If the only goal of this league is to give fans and palyers something to keep up with during the stoppage of play, it’s an almost perfect stand-in.

Roland Garros was postponed from May until September, while the Wimbledon Championships were canceled all together, marking the first time the tournament has been canceled since World War II in 1945.