London, July 29: Tennis chiefs are exploring ways to save the sport from the bludgeoning brutes of the baseline currently populating the professional ranks. The enormous power and spin provided by hi-tech modern rackets are eliminating subtlety from tennis and sapping the sport of its popularity, leading figures said.
While a return to wooden rackets would mean a backward step for the sport, players wielding smaller weapons could be the key to the future of tennis.
A plea by a group of former champions to address the problems facing modern tennis was made by a number of former champions during the Wimbledon championships earlier this month.
Yesterday the sport's governing body, the International Tennis Federation, said it would address the issues endangering the modern game's popularity, in particular the increase in power in the last decade due to advances in tennis racket technology.
''We must conserve the game ... the integrity of the game,'' ITF president Francesco Ricci Bitti said at the international congress on tennis science and technology in London.
''We want to work with the manufacturers to work out what can be done. This is an issue for the future.''
Former player and current television commentator John Barrett is championing the campaign to curb power and spin in the sport.
His call has been backed by former greats including John Mcenroe, Martina Navratilova, Boris Becker and Stan Smith.
Bureau Report