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Bernie Ecclestone has revealed how close he came to changing the international game of tennis.
Sportsvibe reports that the Formula 1 chief executive led a consortium including legend Boris Becker and former player turned businessman Ion Tiriac that wanted to take over the game a decade ago.
Ecclestone, who said the trio came "very close" to running tennis, said the International Tennis Federation ultimately asked for "too much money".
RADICAL IDEAS FOR TENNIS
He said: "I argued that the sport needed to be better geared towards television.
"We would have introduced one serve only per point and also a timed cut-off point to a match so that everyone knew, especially the TV companies, how long a match would last.
"Another idea we had was to segment the match into two or three, timed parts of, say, 20 minutes each. I admit it was radical but the sport needed to do something, although it has improved a little since our talks."
Sportsvibe reports that the Formula 1 chief executive led a consortium including legend Boris Becker and former player turned businessman Ion Tiriac that wanted to take over the game a decade ago.
Ecclestone, who said the trio came "very close" to running tennis, said the International Tennis Federation ultimately asked for "too much money".
RADICAL IDEAS FOR TENNIS
He said: "I argued that the sport needed to be better geared towards television.
"We would have introduced one serve only per point and also a timed cut-off point to a match so that everyone knew, especially the TV companies, how long a match would last.
"Another idea we had was to segment the match into two or three, timed parts of, say, 20 minutes each. I admit it was radical but the sport needed to do something, although it has improved a little since our talks."