[LawrenceOfTennis]

Send this epic thread to the ATP.

[duong]

Originally Posted by r2473

^^Maybe, but its also pretty clear that Connors and Krickstein are not the athletes Nole, Rafa (and many others) are. Seriously, mentally put Nole in that match against Connors on those courts. I imagine things looking MUCH different.

How fast should hard courts be?

Faster than US Open?

Faster than Cincy?

Faster than WTF / O2 arena (which is obviously indoors).

The surface of WTF is much slower than indor surfaces in the past, and even slower than the ones in Madrid and Bercy in the past.

Anyway, I would just be happy if the surfaces on hardcourts during the first part of the season (from Australian Open to Miami) were not that slow.

[romismak]

For those that want much faster grass and HC- generally 90s conditions are delusional. 90s conditions are not possible now, modern racquets add i don´t know hom much- but add many mph on serves and groundstrokes, it is not possible to play on quick surfaces with modern racquets unless you want even more boring game than it was. This surfaces slow as ass are also joke- best is between, probably mid 2000s, Wimbledon they should speed up, i think it is possible, HC is easist to speed up, there should be no problem and clay should be little slower-just get more dirt there and more water, make it heavier or whatever. Then there will be variety - for modern conditions. For example PAris-Bercy 2010 when Llodra made SF and Soderling won was i think amazing to watch for everybody, we don´t need carpet just make indoor tournaments faster and you can see SV style is there possible, make grass quicker and HC too, USO and AO should be clearly different in term of speed i think. RG made slower and we will have 4 totally different slams and you then we will see if big 4 all make semis

[LawrenceOfTennis]

Originally Posted by romismak

For those that want much faster grass and HC- generally 90s conditions are delusional. 90s conditions are not possible now, modern racquets add i don´t know hom much- but add many mph on serves and groundstrokes, it is not possible to play on quick surfaces with modern racquets unless you want even more boring game than it was. This surfaces slow as ass are also joke- best is between, probably mid 2000s, Wimbledon they should speed up, i think it is possible, HC is easist to speed up, there should be no problem and clay should be little slower-just get more dirt there and more water, make it heavier or whatever. Then there will be variety - for modern conditions. For example PAris-Bercy 2010 when Llodra made SF and Soderling won was i think amazing to watch for everybody, we don´t need carpet just make indoor tournaments faster and you can see SV style is there possible, make grass quicker and HC too, USO and AO should be clearly different in term of speed i think. RG made slower and we will have 4 totally different slams and you then we will see if big 4 all make semis

This.

[duong]

the Australian Open before the change to plexicushion :

Australian Open 2005 Fed-Agassi

[Przemek]

Not only speed up the courts, but stop making balls bigger and heavier. Balls are flying like ballons sometimes

[LawrenceOfTennis]

Originally Posted by duong

the Australian Open before the change to plexicushion :

Australian Open 2005 Fed-Agassi

In terms of speed, the difference is dramatically huge.

And it's shocking everytime to watch Andre at the age of 35, would be top 10 today.

[Przemek]

Originally Posted by duong

the Australian Open before the change to plexicushion :

Australian Open 2005 Fed-Agassi

Unbelievable. It looks like they are playing different discipline right now

[leng jai]

Originally Posted by manadrainer

Yes please, Nole had to hit 5 winners each time to win a point yesterday...

5 "winners" or one decent volley.

[latso]

It's crazy even how the racquet impact sounds, like they're stringed at 30+ kgs tension, to have any control at all!

Just wow, miss those times a bit tbh, despite we're witnessing incredible times in tennis history.

[masterclass]

Wimbledon Center Court grass is the first priority. It's like a bloody trampoline now.
Grass is supposed to be fast and low bouncing. They completely changed the grass and base in 2001 to purposely favor an "all court" game. Well, they went too far. Over the last 10 years it has gotten slower each year with a significantly higher bounce.
They might as well be playing on hard court like Miami or the AO.

At a minimum, make it lower bouncing. Perhaps it shouldn't be quite as fast as pre-2001, as current racquet technology would make it a 1 to 3 shot game for above average servers, but it shouldn't be so slow as to almost completely eliminate serve and volley tennis and where it is common to see 20+ shot rallies from the baseline. There should be a reward for playing serve and volley or hitting what should be a winner, but is not because the ball slows when bouncing high. It's a grass court, not a clay court!

Then speed up the slowest hard courts. Shanghai was brutally slow, Toronto was very slow and Miami and Indian Wells have been slowed drastically. Start with those. Definitely return the US Open to its status as the fastest hard court major. It played like the Australian Open, especially last year. Until they build a roof, get some rain covers for the courts! Invest some of that money! Why should they have people soaking up the court with towels. Borrow or rent some tarp from the baseball stadiums. Does it take a genius to recognize and do such simple things? Why should they let the court get so rain soaked that water is leaking up into the court from below? It's excusable for the local park, but for Center Court at the US Open? Come on, that's a colossal embarrassment for the USTA. I don't blame Andy Roddick one bit for his outburst.

Start with the above. Then think about adding a masters 1000 grass event, either in Europe pre-Wimbledon or Australia.
Bring back a couple of carpet events and that's it.

Respectfully,
masterclass

[r3d_d3v1l_]

My memory might be a little fuzzy but it´s not only the courts. The balls need to change asap.

I recall the 2009 Australian Open and there was some brilliant tennis. The semifinal between Verdasco and Nadal was all ofensive tennis and so was the final.

It´s funny how little by little the game has changed so much. And no one seems to give a crap.

In fact, i think the only player i heard saying the courts needed to be faster was Ljubicic.

[Gabe32]

It is more than just "speeding up the courts." If that is all that occurs, then the surfaces will still be homogenized. Clay needs to become slower (slightly), grass needs to become significantly faster, and there should be a more marked difference between the USO and the AO.

[masterclass]

Originally Posted by r3d_d3v1l_

My memory might be a little fuzzy but it´s not only the courts. The balls need to change asap.

I recall the 2009 Australian Open and there was some brilliant tennis. The semifinal between Verdasco and Nadal was all ofensive tennis and so was the final.

It´s funny how little by little the game has changed so much. And no one seems to give a crap.

In fact, i think the only player i heard saying the courts needed to be faster was Ljubicic.

Ball change would help, agreed, and it's a minimal change in terms of cost.

But as far as players wanting faster courts, are you kidding? Plenty more want faster surfaces. Listen to Tsonga, Berdych, Monfils, Federer, it's killing them!
But it's the tournament directors, they want the Nadal's and Djokovic's, Wozniacki's and the like so they can get minimum 2 hour matches for television ratings and advertising revenue. What happens if Mr. Federer wins in 54 minutes at Wimbledon? What do they do with the dead air, show doubles or repeats of Borg-McEnroe? It's really sad.

Respectfully,
masterclass

[r2473]

Originally Posted by masterclass

Then speed up the slowest hard courts. Shanghai was brutally slow, Toronto was very slow and Miami and Indian Wells have been slowed drastically. Start with those. Definitely return the US Open to its status as the fastest hard court major.

OK, you you are targeting ALL of the major hard court events of the season apart from Cincy and the indoor events (and maybe you are OK with the speed of AO, even though it produces 6-hour long finals matches?).

Do you want them all uniformally fast (Cincy fast? Faster?).

Then make the US Open faster than Cincy?