Mens Tennis Forums banner

Should there still be grass tournaments?

  • Yes, grass makes tennis look better

    Votes: 11 52.4%
  • Yes, we should stick with traditions at all cost

    Votes: 3 14.3%
  • Dunno, it's dangerous, but it's a refreshing change

    Votes: 2 9.5%
  • No, it's not even grass after a couple matches

    Votes: 5 23.8%

Is it time to ban Grass courts?

3K views 26 replies 23 participants last post by  atennisfan 
#1 ·
Inspired by the ridiculous thread about Clay getting banned, where i voted that ofc not...and suddenly realized that actually grass is the one that should go.

Clay is played all over the World, literally in every country where tennis is played, there are clay courts.

It is gentle on the joints, people play up until their 90s and more.

Grass is just an obsolete surface from the past. They wonder how to make it slower and bouncier, in order for it to somewhat suit the game of tennis.

And it kinda does, except for being dangerously slippery and even a higher moisture level in the air makes it a real challenge for footwear makers to come up with high tech soles, to save the athletes knees and ankles...

Few days ago i was telling my kids that there used to be official tennis events on carpet...took them a while to realize i wasn't joking. "Like in the living room?" - Yes, same thing. I know it's weird, but it made sense at the time...

Same will be with grass and will be even funnier to the new generations. Grass? But how did they play on it more than once, was it synthetic?

Nope, it was grass in the beginning and after a few matches it was just dirt, but they still called it grass fr some reason...bounce was different in different parts of the court, it was a disaster.

But why then? Well...for one thing, it was about traditions. Even the AO used to be grass in the past. Yes, really, but even i don't remember those times and no one ever had any problems with AO being hard courts during my time, but when i mentioned about getting rid of grass, ppl went berserk for some reason..

But why though? Coz this was the time when the ultimate tennis legend Roger Federer used to be the grass God first before he became the God of tennis overall. So he had many fans and they felt like talking grass down was like talking down about Federer.

But you always say you were a Federer fan? Yes i was, but this didn't matter to anyone at the time..


No one ever plays on grass
It's ridiculously expensive to have grass courts
They wear out in a few matches, so the most important ones, Qfs, Sfs, Finals - they're not played on grass
AO changed and became better, Wimby could do the same, why the hell not?
To change dramatically from clay season to the short grass season just doesn't make any sense.
Probably the most dangerous surface of all. Had the season on it been longer, they would have banned it long ago, due to the numerous injuries it would have created.
The most sensitive surface for rain and moisture. Luckily it's played in the driest places...oh wait :|

Tradition is good, but how much, for how long until it becomes a ridiculous thing, like the bow towards some royalties in the stands?

I'm a Federer and Dimitrov fan, but that's plain logic. Mke the season 35-65 clay/hard, impose the same hard court surface everywhere with the exact same balls everywhere and just let the players compete with their qualities.
 
See less See more
#5 ·
  • Like
Reactions: Hup and Cloren
#7 ·
Great thread.

Nah, grass is so much superior to clay aesthetically it's not even funny. Keep it, but ban modern slow grass and install super fast 90s grass to make sure glorious acefests happen.

Also, bring back carpet, wood etc. Seemed like an awesome environment to play in.

The most important improvement does not even concern surfaces: continuous grunting should be expressly forbidden, and everyone who grunts on routine rally shots should be DQ'd. It is the singular most repulsive element of modern tennis.
 
#14 ·
You have to admit this is pretty ridiculous though



And that's not even his last form...

Ozzy Open didn't collapse, lost viewership, or get less popular at all and they used to be grass too.

It's a way less risky, less problematic, while logical step, compared to some decision that have been made on the island there mate, innit?

Same with carpet. And if it was a Slam in the UK, we would be still watching tennis, but on thick rugs, to have it slower...that's how silly traditions make us behave.

I do get any kind of opinion about it though, of course it is a big, general change, that would probably never happen, until someone leaves a leg on court, but it also is scandalous and far fetched, until it actually happens. Like in Australia.

So who knows.
 
#10 ·
Inspired by the ridiculous thread about Clay getting banned, where i voted that ofc not...and suddenly realized that actually grass is the one that should go.

Clay is played all over the World, literally in every country where tennis is played, there are clay courts.

It is gentle on the joints, people play up until their 90s and more.

Grass is just an obsolete surface from the past. They wonder how to make it slower and bouncier, in order for it to somewhat suit the game of tennis.

And it kinda does, except for being dangerously slippery and even a higher moisture level in the air makes it a real challenge for footwear makers to come up with high tech soles, to save the athletes knees and ankles...

Few days ago i was telling my kids that there used to be official tennis events on carpet...took them a while to realize i wasn't joking. "Like in the living room?" - Yes, same thing. I know it's weird, but it made sense at the time...

Same will be with grass and will be even funnier to the new generations. Grass? But how did they play on it more than once, was it synthetic?

Nope, it was grass in the beginning and after a few matches it was just dirt, but they still called it grass fr some reason...bounce was different in different parts of the court, it was a disaster.

But why then? Well...for one thing, it was about traditions. Even the AO used to be grass in the past. Yes, really, but even i don't remember those times and no one ever had any problems with AO being hard courts during my time, but when i mentioned about getting rid of grass, ppl went berserk for some reason..

But why though? Coz this was the time when the ultimate tennis legend Roger Federer used to be the grass God first before he became the God of tennis overall. So he had many fans and they felt like talking grass down was like talking down about Federer.

But you always say you were a Federer fan? Yes i was, but this didn't matter to anyone at the time..


No one ever plays on grass
It's ridiculously expensive to have grass courts
They wear out in a few matches, so the most important ones, Qfs, Sfs, Finals - they're not played on grass
AO changed and became better, Wimby could do the same, why the hell not?
To change dramatically from clay season to the short grass season just doesn't make any sense.
Probably the most dangerous surface of all. Had the season on it been longer, they would have banned it long ago, due to the numerous injuries it would have created.
The most sensitive surface for rain and moisture. Luckily it's played in the driest places...oh wait :|

Tradition is good, but how much, for how long until it becomes a ridiculous thing, like the bow towards some royalties in the stands?

I'm a Federer and Dimitrov fan, but that's plain logic. Mke the season 35-65 clay/hard, impose the same hard court surface everywhere with the exact same balls everywhere and just let the players compete with their qualities.
No clay courts in Ireland ;)
 
#11 ·
Grass tournaments should be banned. Better add some tournaments in the hall.
 
#12 ·
I would argue that it is the very effort to slow grass courts down that makes them more dangerous, since balls that would otherwise be outright clean winners are now potentially retrievable, and therefore (possibly) worth risking injury to get back over the net. We need to make grass faster. Early 2000's are a good standard to shoot for, 90's is a bit much I think.
 
#13 ·
Real grass tennis courts are pretty much banned since 2001 anyway. :shrug:

My thread about clay was misunderstood. ATP wants to make the matches quicker, so instead of trying silly things that will change the structure of the sport (like sets of 4 games and deciding points at 40-40) why not to ban the surface where the matches last longer? Not to mention the qualify of clay matches are the worst, I'd like ATP to make like boxing and have stats about total shots landed in during a tennis match, that would show exactly how clay is boring these days, probably way lower % of winner/shots landed in than even in the slowest brand of hard.
 
#22 ·
No "Is it time to ban tennis?" thread yet? That's disappointing...
 
#23 ·
Yes, ban grass in the sport that was once called 'lawn tennis'. That's fucking brilliant. Change all surfaces into hardcourts and make it bland like every other sport...no. Tennis is one of the few sports with multiple surfaces, that's what makes it so great. That you can have specialists on each surface and see how they fare on their other less favourable surfaces.
 
#25 ·
As much I would like to see grass go myself, this will probably never happen since Wimby is the biggest most prestigious tennis event in the world.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top