“Before, people were only coming for players, now they come for UTS & players” – Mouratoglou upbeat after Guadalajara success
Renowned tennis coach and UTS founder voiced his thoughts about the future of UTS after Tomas Machac’s crowning in Guadalajara
Patrick Mouratoglou, UTS Guadalajara | © Tennis Majors
Patrick Mouratoglou (co-founder of Tennis Majors) is optimistic about his brainchild UTS Tour, the revolutionary tennis competition rapidly gaining traction around the globe. On Sunday (February 16), Mouratoglou oversaw another successful UTS Tour event held in Guadalajara, where Czech debutant ‘The Air Machete’ Tomas Machac clinched glory by defeating Belgium’s ‘The Wall’ David Goffin in a gripping final. Following Machac’s crowning, Mouratoglou voiced his thoughts, on court, about the future of UTS.
First UTS in Latin America, a new winner, a new record with 25.000 spectators. Many things happened this week)end. What are your thoughts on UTS Guadalajara?
Patrick Mouratoglou: I’m very happy that we could manage to have an event in Latin America. That was a goal to get there, now we have made it. We went to almost all the continents. I expected it to be great. First of all, our partners GS Sports Management are managing many other sports events and I know how professional they are. Also, the Mexican crowd is amazing. I went to a couple of ATP tournaments and they have the fire, they love to party, I mean, they love this type of events, they’re very lively. Saturday was unbelievable… fully packed stadium, incredible incredible atmosphere. I’m very happy. And about the winner, the quality of the game of [Tomas] Machac for a few months has been extremely high. He’s impressive with his court coverage, intensity, ability to be so consistent when it matters the most. I’m not surprised to have him as a winner.
25,000 spectators in three days, that’s the best number ever on the UTS tour. What does it mean to you?
Patrick Mouratoglou: I mean, 25,000 visitors in three days is a lot, it’s great. For us it’s a progression, every year we go to bigger stadiums, we are sold out faster, earlier. So, it’s just another milestone. Again, I’m not surprised here. These people are really great at managing this type of event. It’s just a general trend that we are growing really really fast, it shows the interest that we drive, that UTS drives. I think we’ve more and more fans around the world and again, the fact that we were sold out very fast, the fact that we need bigger and bigger stadiums just show the traction of UTS.
For us 25.000 SPECTATORS Is a progression, every year we go to bigger stadiums, we are sold out faster, earlier.
Each event we say that very dynamic players win the trophy. So with Machac, is he the same kind of player as [Alex] de Minaur, [Andrey] Rublev or did he bring something new?
Patrick Mouratoglou: Most of the winners of UTS are players that are super consistent, great at rallying, with great cardio because it’s so demanding there, if you’re not extremely consistent, you struggle and at some point, you give away a lot of points. In UTS, you cannot afford to give many points like that. And if you look at the guys that have won the most, Rublev, and the guys who are always in the semis or final, Shelton is an exception because he goes for crazy shots and is not that type of player, but most of players, they are guys who are extremely consistent. Machac is one of those but the good thing is that he’s also spectacular, he’s both very consistent and very spectacular.
Not many people know about Machac but he’s young. How do you see him doing in the future?
Patrick Mouratoglou: Yes, Machac really broke through, the last months. His level goes high extremely fast. I see him as a top 10 player for sure. The quality of his game, his serve – he’s not a very tall player but you could see that players were struggling in returning his serve. The quality of his movement on the court, his intensity, his focus, I mean, these are qualities, when you have them all, you’re a top 10 player.
What about Casper Ruud ? It was his fifth appearance. He was great during the group stage but then he failed in Sudden Death in semifinals, once again. How do you see it?
What about Casper Ruud ? It was his fifth appearance. He was great during the group stage but then he failed in Sudden Death in semifinals, once again. How do you see it?
Patrick Mouratoglou: I think Casper has the perfect game to win UTS, to be a great UTS player, plus I think he likes it. But even though he played a lot, I don’t feel he’s relaxed, loose, and really going for it. The fact that the game is fast, that he doesn’t have time, he’s rushed a little bit, I think it affects him. I know how great tennis he can play and I haven’t seen him play his best tennis yet at UTS. But he’s a fighter, he doesn’t give up, he’s gonna keep going until he wins and I’m sure he will. Yeah, I think he really wants to win one and here he had so much crowd support. I think he put too much pressure on himself.
We saw Nick Kyrgios pulling out, Denis Shapovalov as well, the last week… It was a hard for the UTS staff. How did you manage that?
Patrick Mouratoglou: It was very difficult before the tournament here because we were very unlucky. Kyrgios plus Kokkinakis got injured, then Shapo was out also. It created disappointment, which I understand completely. But what happened here in the success shows that UTS becomes bigger and bigger, and people come for UTS. Of course, when you have the best players and most exciting ones. It’s a plus but first we found exciting players to replace them and also people come for UTS, it’s a big change.
Before, people were only coming for the players, now they come for UTS and the players and soon they’ll come only for UTS.”
Of course, we manage to have the best guys because it’s always more exciting when you have the best players.
You now have the Mouratoglou tennis center here in Guadalajara, on this site. Does that mean UTS will be back here too?
Patrick Mouratoglou: I’m sure we will continue to come. Also yes, we did a deal with the owners of the tennis center of Guadalajara, it’s gonna become Mouratoglou tennis center, with really a big goal to focus on the youth of Mexico, build great players and champions. So, we have a big mission, we’re very excited. We partnered with GS Sports, they are doing an incredible job, we’re really proud to partner with them and we’re extremely excited.
The next UTS event will be held in Nîmes, April 2-4th. The tickets were sold out pretty quickly, the line-up is incredible, it will be the beginning of the clay season. Do you expect it to be a new milestone ?
Patrick Mouratoglou: We are very ambitious and we want UTS to become huge and it’s becoming slowly but surely… – not that slowly by the way, every year there are big milestones. I think the Bastide Médical UTS Nimes can be another one. It will be held in an antique stadium that is unique in the world. It’s gonna be crazy to have a tennis court there. We have an incredible line-up of players, it’s the start of the clay season. The stadium is huge with almost 15,000 seats. It’s unbelievable, we’re already sold out so it’s another milestone for sure. I can’t wait to be there.
What about your agenda. You were in LA before this and you’re going back, so is Naomi [Osaka] ready to go, has she recovered?
Patrick Mouratoglou: I went to LA last week to start bringing Naomi back to tennis after her injury. She has recovered. Of course, we keep working to solidify her body for the future. So I came from LA to Guadalajara, I’m going back to LA to work with Naomi and get her ready for the two very exciting tournaments coming up, Indian Wells and Miami. She has an exhibition in Las Vegas, against [Aryna] Sabalenka just before Indian Wells so that will be her first test. But I’m excited with her level, ambition, focus so I’m sure a lot of good things are coming.
