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Vote for speeding up the courts or against it!

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"Speed up the courts and general court speed Thread"

149K views 2K replies 436 participants last post by  kafkavert 
#1 ·
A few weeks ago I watched some old matches of James Blake including encounters against Kiefer (Vienna 2002), Agassi (Washington 2002), Safin (Hopman Cup 2004) and Moya (Indian Wells 2003) and it is quite obvious that today's game is far slower than it was then. James was able to generate direct winners off the forehand wing, whereas currently he has to fire his forehand at least two or three times to end the point. I just wonder whether his shots are less powerful now but looking at the shot and serve speeds it is probably not the reason. He uses the same frame as back then in 2002 or 2003, therefore it shouldn't be blamed on the technology of rackets. So what's the main reason - the balls or changes in surface? Or maybe James game is simply slower?
 
#998 ·
Re: Roger Campaigning for Faster Courts on Tour

yeah i'm fine with grass being where it is. maybe a wee bit faster, but nothing like it used to be.

clay should be slow. and the fast balls they used a couple of years were pointless. clay is meant to be slow full stop.

but the hardcourts should never, ever have become as homogenised as they are. us open was flat out brutal. i thought the asian swing courts were excellent, however. would be nice to see those speeds in the MS1000's.
 
#1,000 ·
Re: Roger Campaigning for Faster Courts on Tour

Totally support Roger on his argument of bringing more variety of speeds to the courts. Not everything has to be fast, but they should definitely speed up a few tournaments. I watched the 2012 UO final on Youtube the other day, and I was just bored as hell. At some points it just felt like a forehand to forehand practice session, with neither Djokovic or Murray wanting to go for the point. Can't understand commentators calling a 30-shot rally amazing, simply because it lasted so long.
 
#1,003 ·
Re: Roger Campaigning for Faster Courts on Tour

Totally support Roger on his argument of bringing more variety of speeds to the courts. Not everything has to be fast, but they should definitely speed up a few tournaments. I watched the 2012 UO final on Youtube the other day, and I was just bored as hell. At some points it just felt like a forehand to forehand practice session, with neither Djokovic or Murray wanting to go for the point. Can't understand commentators calling a 30-shot rally amazing, simply because it lasted so long.
+10000000
 
#1,001 ·
Re: Roger Campaigning for Faster Courts on Tour

The tennis calender should be split up like this:

First week of Jan to Miami: Slow to medium paced hardcourts. Players are fitter and fresher at the start of the year, better able to grind. Reward the athletic and fit players.

Clay court season till French Open: VERY slow clay courts. Reward the grinders, defenders, and court craft players.

Grass season till Wimbledon: Ultra quick grass courts. Reward the servers, first strike tennis players.

Summer hard court season till US open: Fast hard courts. Reward the all court players, the players who have a balance between aggressive tennis and denfense.

Fall season (indoor/hardcourt): Should be on faster surfaces, players are tired, and the grass season is so short that this season should augment the part of the year that rewards the big servers/big power players.

If you can dominate an entire year like that, then you are truly a complete tennis player.
 
#1,010 · (Edited)
Should Court Speeds be regulated by a governing body and is CPR pointless?

I've been looking into tennis court surfaces in use at the Slams, Masters 100 & 500 and their ITF Court Pace Ratings. http://www.perfect-tennis.co.uk/tennis-court-surfaces-and-court-speeds/

It doesn't seem to add up? The court pace ratings of surfaces don't translate to the speed of the courts we actually see.

Do you guys think it's too easy for tournament owners to simply change the composition of surfaces and make them play considerably different to their specified court pace rating?

Do you think court speeds should be regulated outside of the tournament owners, that way it'd be enforced that different courts play at different speeds so we get more variety on tour?
 
#1,012 · (Edited)
Re: Should Court Speeds be regulated by a governming body and is CPR pointless?

Thanks for the article :)

But I don't think one can say there's an absence of regulations and it's "too easy for tournament owners".

I remember reading that after each tournament, ATP officials ask reactions from players about the tournament organization, including the court speed.

Notably, it was one of the reasons why Paris-Bercy had to slow down their surface after their "experiment" in 2010.

And from different sources, we heard that all of the European indoor tournaments had to use the same surface and ball as the WTF.

Then it doesn't look to me that there's a problem of an "absence of regulation", anyway I don't think it's a major problem.
 
#1,013 ·
Re: Should Court Speeds be regulated by a governming body and is CPR pointless?

Thanks for the article :)

But I don't think one can say there's an absence of regulations and it's "too easy for tournament owners".

I remember reading that after each tournament, ATP officials ask reactions from players about the tournament organization, including the court speed.

Notably, it was one of the reasons why Paris-Bercy had to slow down their surface after their "experiment" in 2010.

And from different sources, we heard that all of the European indoor tournaments had to use the same surface and ball as the WTF.

Then it doesn't look to me that there's a problem of an "absence of regulation", anyway I don't think it's a major problem.
Players are self interested though. If you ask Nadal if he will want slower everytime. So you can't count opinions like that.

Not true about the European Indoor tournaments either - Paris Bercy surface uses a different surface to London.

Basel, Stockholm use the same as WTF.
 
#1,018 ·
Grinding wins agains, speed up the courts or the sport will die.

Novak gets through another match not on shotmaking or technical ability but grinding out his opponent a way only possible on ultra slow courts.

Disgusting stuff, Stanislas should've won today but the courts and umpiring is rigged to prevent clowns like Djokovic from ever losing a match before SF.
 
#1,028 ·
Re: Grinding wins agains, speed up the courts or the sport will die.

Novak gets through another match not on shotmaking or technical ability but grinding out his opponent a way only possible on ultra slow courts.

Disgusting stuff, Stanislas should've won today but the courts and umpiring is rigged to prevent clowns like Djokovic from ever losing a match before SF.
cry me a river...or two.
 
#1,019 ·
Re: Grinding wins agains, speed up the courts or the sport will die.

Keep crying hater :lol:

Stan proved tonight that no matter the court speed, good shotmaking is still just as an effective strategy to beat top players. The match was based on a coin toss, and it was a great match regardless of whoever won.
 
#1,021 ·
Re: Grinding wins agains, speed up the courts or the sport will die.

Stan proved tonight that no matter the court speed, good shotmaking is still just as an effective strategy to beat top players.
It was not "good" shotmaking, it was GREAT shotmaking. It is a little bit sad that when a player is able to deliver a performance like that, it's still not enough. The kind of tennis that Stan played tonight is something that you can't really play on regular basis because it is just too good.
 
#1,020 ·
Re: Grinding wins agains, speed up the courts or the sport will die.

Tonight was a great match but the inability to hit through the court at the AO is really getting beyond a joke. I don't mind having the ball sit up a little bit to prolong rallies, but it's getting to the point where it's near impossible to hit a winner from any reasonable position on the court.

Stan had to work some ridiculous angles to prevent Djokovic from getting a racquet on the ball, and Novak wasn't even playing that well.
 
#1,024 ·
Re: Grinding wins agains, speed up the courts or the sport will die.

Tonight was a great match but the inability to hit through the court at the AO is really getting beyond a joke. I don't mind having the ball sit up a little bit to prolong rallies, but it's getting to the point where it's near impossible to hit a winner from any reasonable position on the court.

Stan had to work some ridiculous angles to prevent Djokovic from getting a racquet on the ball, and Novak wasn't even playing that well.
^this. It's silly when you have to hit 3-4 "winners" to get one winner and when the opponent even can run down smashes because the bounce sucks all power out of the smash. Or maybe it's because the surface fluffs even new balls very quickly. Doesn't matter. The effect on aggressive tennis is devastating. Only hitting awesome shot after awesome shot can save you and to do that over 5-seters? Gonna slip up sooner or later


Matches and games get so long too and the wear and tear on the players is another reason to speed it up
 
#1,027 ·
Re: Grinding wins agains, speed up the courts or the sport will die.

That match is pretty much the best example of how fucked up the courts have become.

One of the best and hardest hitters of all time hitting the shit out of every ball and still only coming out on the wrong side. Even as a fan of Berdych when he lost I would have normally been sad or a bit angry, but then I didn't feel anything but just laughed as I knew he did all he could.

At least this year the court seems a little quicker. But still, for a hardcourt it's fucking pathetic.
 
#1,038 ·
Re: Grinding wins agains, speed up the courts or the sport will die.

Relax. Nole's knees will cry for help soon, like Pocahontas'
 
#1,040 ·
Re: Grinding wins agains, speed up the courts or the sport will die.



:eek:
 
#1,041 ·
Re: Grinding wins agains, speed up the courts or the sport will die.

The orgasmic reactions of the crowd (casuals) to points like that are a key reason they've slowed down everything.

BTW it's common knowledge that at the AO, Wimbledon and USO, the outside courts are quicker than the main stadium courts. Armstrong is a lot faster than Ashe at the US Open. There's a Big Four bias and it stinks.
 
#1,043 ·
Re: Grinding wins agains, speed up the courts or the sport will die.

don't we have a thread on this topic already? sure, speed them up!
 
#1,045 ·
Re: Grinding wins agains, speed up the courts or the sport will die.

The sport won't die, I've never heard of a funeral for a sport, although American football deserves one. The players play with the conditions they've been given. If Djokovic's opponents can't handle his retrieving you can't simply blame it on the slow courts, give credit where credit is due. Tennis has never been all about overpowering your opponent.
 
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#1,046 ·
Re: Grinding wins agains, speed up the courts or the sport will die.

The sport won't die, I've never heard of a funeral for a sport, although American football deserves one. The players play with the conditions they've been given. If Djokovic's opponents can't handle his retrieving you can't simply blame it on the slow courts, give credit where credit is due. Tennis has never been all about overpowering your opponent.
If you can't see how the slow court homogenization of Tennis is destructive to the sport than I question your fandom.
 
#1,048 ·
Re: Grinding wins agains, speed up the courts or the sport will die.

it's always sad to see a bunch of grown men crying over a game. but don't worry, the truck full of kleenex is on the way, should be delivered to this topic any moment. :wavey:

and no, I don't include mark lenders under the "grown man" tag.
 
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#1,050 ·
Re: Grinding wins agains, speed up the courts or the sport will die.

it's always sad to see a bunch of grown man crying over a game. but don't worry, the truck full of kleenex is on the way, should be delivered to this topic any moment. :wavey:
If you don't care about tennis, than you probably shouldn't be on this site, and you most definitely shouldn't be in this thread.
 
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