At Roland Garros,
The poster for the Roland-Garros final, this Sunday, between Novak Djokovic and Casper Ruud, may not make many people dream, that will not prevent tens of millions of viewers around the world from landing in front of their TV, their computer or their smartphone, to attend the announced coronation of the GOAT, whom nothing and no one should prevent from winning his 23rd grand slam, an absolute record in the history of tennis. And what will they see? The famous fixed shot of camera 1, back to the server, placed halfway up in the side stand of the Philippe-Chatrier court.
For as long as tennis has been shown on television, this has been THE plan chosen by directors to give fans the best possible view of the court and the rallies. And unlike football, whose TV production is often criticized for its propensity to multiply close-ups, based on emotions or technique, to the detriment of wide shots, based on the tactical aspect, that of tennis does not never provoked heated debates. An error that we will hasten to correct, out of a pure spirit of contradiction.
An average age that does not move
Preventing going around in circles in a sport that he considers “very conservative”, Patrick Mouratoglou explains this very simply. “Even if it has been modernized a bit over the years because we have new tools, the way of filming and broadcasting matches has not changed. But it’s quite consistent since the tennis audience hasn’t changed in forty years. All market studies show it, the average age of viewers is 61 years old. These people are not necessarily receptive to change, it’s a very conservative audience. »
And the arrival of new broadcasters like Prime Vidéo which, on paper, is aimed at a younger audience than France TV, does not change anything, since the channels have no control over the images they broadcast. . It is indeed an international signal, produced by a single box, disseminated throughout the world and whose rules are extremely codified. Nathalie Talbot knows it better than anyone, she who produced it for France TV for 15 years, before the public service channel lost its rights to Input Media.
“During the point, we have no choice, it’s the wide shot of camera 1 that we have to use. The charters of realization are clear: prohibition to change plan during the exchanges, she professes. About ten years ago, we could still have fun when there was a very high ball for example, to pass at the time of the live on a close shot on the player in the process of taking the volley. It is now prohibited. »
The only notable developments, apart from the arrival of the now famous “Spider-Cam”, which has been used for a long time in football and which nevertheless took time to arrive at Roland, are societal developments. In other words, it’s over with the plans that Nathalie Talbot describes as “doubtful”, à la Alain Souchon, under the girls’ skirts.
“Today have been very careful about that. We have a lot of cameras that offer magnificent shots, which are completely in pits, at the height of clay, she explains. Which means that when the player is in a miniskirt in front of us, the shot being from a low angle, we can actually see everything underneath, even if today they have shorties and are no longer in panties , as was the case in the past. There was a period when we showed that without anyone having a problem with it… Afterwards, there weren’t many female directors and no more directors, which can perhaps explain that! “.
Andy Murray and the “cable-cam”
Directors also have to deal with the actors themselves. “I remember when we had the ‘cable-cam’ on the Lenglen – it’s a camera stretched on a cable installed along the side stand which made it possible to make absolutely magnificent shots, pretty tracking shots – that it had posed a problem with certain players, in particular Andy Murray, remembers the real ‘. He was chiaaaaaant with that! He couldn’t bear to have this camera in his field of vision. Which means that each time he served, we had to send the cable cam completely behind his back so that he could serve. The concentration of the players means that we can’t afford everything. As long as they lose the match and point us in charge (laughs)! “.
Without going so far as to disturb Sir Andy Murray, there would still be room to change the experience of fans in front of their screen. In any case, this is what Thibault Le Roll, presenter and commentator at Roland-Garros for Prime Video thinks. “I think we could be more often up to the players, behind them, in order to better convey the physical intensity of a tennis rally, he reflects. And then why not take the opportunity from time to time to drop the ball a little and stay on a player for two or three strikes, I think that would make it possible to energize the distribution. There is room to take small risks, let’s try things, even if it means making mistakes. Prime Video has also tested the waters by polling its Twitter subscribers about this camera positioned a little lower during the exchanges.
UTS seeks to revolutionize the tennis product
Not only does Patrick Mouratoglou share our colleague’s opinion, but he even decided to put his ideas into practice by creating his own (exhibition) tournament, theUltimate Tennis Showdown, which breaks free from the rules in force in the audiovisual production of tennis. “At UTS, we chose to get close to the action because we can see the effects much better, and the ball trajectories are much more visible than with the classic camera. And then we also have a better perception of the physical commitment of the players, we have more the feeling of being at the heart of the action. Tennis today is filmed from a distance when we decided to film it in a more immersive way. So it is doable. »
Eager to break the codes of tennis à la papa, the former coach of Serena Williams sees in the UTS “a laboratory” to seek out a younger audience. Audience 2.0 who constantly need to be stimulated and who are deeply bored by tennis and its moral codes. Because the subject goes far beyond the simple realization.
“The code of conduct is so strict today that it dictates player behavior. The human being is not perfect gold, tennis wants to send back an image of perfection which is totally false, denounces Mouratoglou. So we push the actors to sanitize their speech and their actions, to pretend, to hide their emotions, and I find that harmful. It’s like watching a movie where everyone is beautiful, everyone is perfect, it doesn’t have any kind of interest. »
What do UTS and its boss want? “Authenticity!” exclaims the latter. We want tennis to be a moment of sharing, and for that we need the personalities to express themselves, that there is a maximum of interaction between the players and their staff, between the players and the public, so we have completely reimagined the product. “If the very rigid tennis has proven in recent times that it knows how to adapt to the changes of its time, in particular by authorizing coaching in the middle of a match, on the side of television production, we do not see for the moment any revolution in the horizon.