[Fedfanforever]

Yess...let's petition. I like "Speed Up the Courts." It's direct and to the point.
The French Open feeling faster than Wimbledon is just pathetic, honestly.

[Roadmap]

I will sign up. Spread the gospel. Tennis can be resurrected.

[masterclass]

Originally Posted by Fujee

Im fully for sending a petition in to whoever can do anything about it. However I ultimately feel that in this profit obsessed world, ultimately the people with the real power, i.e sponsors, CEOs etc.. will not care one bit about the court speed. They want money and they want as much as possible, by increasing rally lengths and to their minds excitement at all tournaments they are increasing profit tenfold, people hear about these epics and slug fests and it captures the casual sports fans attention, gets them through the gate and earns the big cheeses another ivory back scratcher. If the players can't even produce enough gusto to get this issue recognised, then what hope does an online petition have? Yes, we tennis fans who watch all year round produce some ticket sales, its ultimately the casual fan they draw in huge numnbers with the promise of 6 hour slugfests. Ultimately, and incredibly sadly the game is driven by the buck. Im not saying in anyway this is useless, but you really need to convince the people who make these decisions that speeding surfaces up will also correlate with no drop in profit. I hate to be pessimistic but it's just as corrupt and money grabbing as the next sporting franchise.

Originally Posted by Matt-TennisFan24

...Masterclass you could help me describing the problem, you write really formally which would be useful.

Agreed Fujee, which is why the petition must offer reasoning and alternatives that will keep tournament's/sponsors financial outlook strong. Please see my post in the Petition thread.
And Matt, as you can see in the Petition thread (I read that before this), I willingly offer my help. Just wanted to make sure I didn't step on your idea.

Respectfully,
masterclass

[Matt01]

Originally Posted by Fedfanforever

Yess...let's petition. I like "Speed Up the Courts." It's direct and to the point.
The French Open feeling faster than Wimbledon is just pathetic, honestly.

Will that petition also demand for making the clay tourneys like Madrid and RG slower like they should be? Or will the curtain be drawn over that issue?

[Slice Winner]

I agree with Matty boy.
Speeding up the courts is not the only issue. It's the one that ties in with long matches -> injured players.
But for the 'variety' issue, you could mention that there need to be slow claycourts as well as fast grasscourts etc.
(Although RG was probably the best grand slam of 2011, but probably cus it was the ONLY quasi-fast one.........wat)

[piksi]

Even with slowing down the courts we still had an 11 hrs match that no one wanted to watch. No one wants to watch matches like Isner vs Mahut because nothing ever happens there. That is why they decided to slow down the courts. Now days you actually have to have skills beside a serve to win big tournaments. You have to be a complete player in every possible segment. You can't win with Sampras backhand anymore.

[Action Jackson]

Originally Posted by piksi

Even with slowing down the courts we still had an 11 hrs match that no one wanted to watch. No one wants to watch matches like Isner vs Mahut because nothing ever happens there. That is why they decided to slow down the courts. Now days you actually have to have skills beside a serve to win big tournaments. You have to be a complete player in every possible segment. You can't win with Sampras backhand anymore.

No, you don't have to be complete. If so then there would be more and better volleying in addition to the baseline play and Djokovic said it himself he wishes he was better at the net.

Yes, I remember the old days very well. Sampras volleyed well and running forehand weren't rubbish shots, except on clay he couldn't stop.

[stewietennis]

Originally Posted by piksi

Even with slowing down the courts we still had an 11 hrs match that no one wanted to watch.

I agree with this one

[fast_clay]

Originally Posted by Snowwy

Do you think the average fan likes, two shot rallies or fifteen shot rallies?

And there folks is the answers to this thread sadly

i think the average fan is happy with what they see, and rightly so... it is a spectacle...

yet, they do not know what they are being robbed of...

i don't think anyone who knows what they are talking about is asking for all conditions to be sped up, just portions of the calendar to be...

you see, the effect of balancing the tour with a part of the schedule that is biased towards serve volley play and fast court skills is that you get fast court players being able to collect points and then bring that style, adapted or not, to all other events...

as it stands, while clay courters will always have their avenue to the main tour, highly skilled attackers are not afforded the same conduit... the ceiling on their advancement seems to be the challenger tour... unless, of course, you would like to call newport an avenue for advancement...

sadly, most like to quote on the serve fests that dominated the carpet and grass courts of the last generation - but, still, if you wanna have a balanced look at the rankings, you'll still see plenty of claycourters occupying places in the top 20... there still was an order with diversity...

although this slowed down version of the game is preferable to the servefests of the 90's, people don't know what they are missing in the memorable battles that happen in a true clash of opposing styles...

diversity is dying..

[Branimir]

I'd like more variety!

[Action Jackson]

The game as it stands lacks diversity of styles, that's what has been sucked out of the sport. The ATP/ITF love it cause it suits their stance that's all about the cash and not the sport itself.

Hardcourts and indoor events can be sped up a bit now, since the sport is in a better place. Naturally not that they're all ice rinks cause that's what led to the slowing down and heavier balls in the first place.

[Fedfanforever]

Originally Posted by Matt01

Will that petition also demand for making the clay tourneys like Madrid and RG slower like they should be? Or will the curtain be drawn over that issue?

I think they should slow down the French Open. I don't know if that's part of the petition though because I didn't write it.

[fast_clay]

Originally Posted by Matt01

Will that petition also demand for making the clay tourneys like Madrid and RG slower like they should be? Or will the curtain be drawn over that issue?

you're level of comprehension on this issue parallels that of an infant

[Pirata.]

Originally Posted by fast_clay

you're level of comprehension on this issue parallels that of an infant

[Gabe32]

Everyone agrees though that if they speed up ALL surfaces equally ... the courts would still be equally homogenized though, right? There needs to be a disparity, not just a collective increase/decrease.