‘We’re entertainers’: Jessica Pegula backs Novak Djokovic call to jazz up tennis

MELBOURNE – Jessica Pegula has backed Novak Djokovic’s call for more entertainment for fans, saying that tennis should become less “stuffy and uppity”.

Djokovic had said after his third-round win at the Australian Open on Jan 17 that tennis needs to be “more fun”.

He even suggested that dancers could be brought on court during breaks to appeal to a new 21st-century generation.

World No. 6 Pegula agreed the game needed to jazz things up.

“It’s always kind of been a little bit of a stuffy, uppity kind of sport,” she said after a shock loss to unseeded Olga Danilovic late on Jan 17.

“At the end of the day, we’re entertainers, and I think it can help the sport having more personality.”

Pegula is no stranger to sporting razzamatazz – her father owns the Buffalo Bills team in the National Football League, where a full entertainment package during breaks of play or at half-time is all part of the fan experience. However, the staid world of tennis has been slow to follow the example of other sports.

She also believes that social media has players looking over their shoulder, wary of doing anything outrageous.

“Nowadays it’s maybe tougher with social media that everything kind of comes back to haunt you,” she said, but called for players to lighten up.

“Back in the day when social media wasn’t around, you had so much more personality in tennis, probably because those things didn’t stick with you forever. I think the more personality, the better.”

Djokovic, meanwhile, also called Danielle Collins’ feisty reaction to Australian Open hecklers “funny and smart” after himself getting riled up during his win against Czech 26th seed Tomas Machac.

The 37-year-old Serbian great gave his full backing to the American, who sarcastically thanked the Melbourne crowd on Jan 16 for “paying my bills”.

Collins blew kisses to the fiercely partisan crowd, cupped her ear and even pointed to her backside after a stormy 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-2 win over Destanee Aiava, who was the last Australian woman left in the draw.

A fired-up Djokovic swatted aside Machac and let out a roar, then pointed to his ear and then at someone in the Rod Laver Arena stands. He said that the targets of his ire were “a few people here and there” who he felt overstepped the mark and made provocative comments.

Djokovic was more restrained than Collins but said he admired her response.

“Big fan of Danielle Collins after that,” he said. “I was before, but now, big fan. I love it. I heard some comments of people that she shouldn’t have said that or that. I think she handled it really well. So I think she was funny, smart, and just big fan of what she did.”

On the wider point of whether tennis was too conservative a sport, the 24-time Grand Slam champion said the sport was rightly proud of its history and traditions.

“At the same time,” he added. “I think we have been a little bit behind the other sports with changes and trying to keep the pace with the evolution of society and the new generation that we all know doesn’t have that much of a great attention span. We should try to look to connect more with the younger people.” AFP, REUTERS