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Is The Australian Open going to be a clone of The U.S Open?

2K views 62 replies 25 participants last post by  Forehander 
#1 ·
#2 ·
Controversy has already sprung up concerning the decision to change surfaces. Much of the controversy stems from the fact that the plexicushion surface is very similar to DecoTurf, the surface currently used at another Grand Slam, the U.S. Open. Rebound Ace Spokesman Paul Bull has stated that "we had an Australian icon event with a unique Australian product and now we are just going to become a clone of the US Open." [1]

"It's just the US Open surface under a different name, so we will become a clone of the US Open. Same horse, different jockey," said Bull. "This is really just a hard court - it will be exactly the same for all practical purposes. In four or five years...the cushioning disappears because you can't maintain it using this system." [2]

The main distinction between Rebound Ace and Plexicushion is that balls on Rebound Ace bounce slighter higher and slower. Some believe that the U.S. hardcourts are faster or of a similar speed to grass courts[3] whereas Rebound Ace is undoubtably slower.
:worship: Couldn't agree more.
 
#4 ·
Now all slams are on fast surfaces except for Roland Garros. This really isn't good for the game and Rebound Ace bridged the gap between red clay and decoturf, ultimately they've just taken even more variety out of the slams and the game.
 
#15 ·
Now all slams are on fast surfaces except for Roland Garros.
On the contrary.

None of them is played on a fast surface, it just happens the AO's surface will not be as slow.
 
#5 ·
Actually Wimbledon is pretty slow now too...but it would be nice if they could have a surface that would be different from the USO's court without posing injury problems for the players.
 
#6 ·
The guy complaining in Jimnik's quote works for Rebound Ace, so of course he'll be unhappy with the change. Have any of the players said that the surfaces are too similar? My impression is that many players were happy to get rid of Rebound Ace because of the injury/heat retention problem and weren't too concerned about what replaces it, much less how much it resembles DecoTurf II. And can't they just make Plexicushion faster by manipulating the top dressing, just as they do with DecoTurf?
 
#7 ·
I would have preferred fast clay. This is an all right change, although I am bothered by the comment that it's a clone of the New York hard court. The Aussie had a bit of an identity with the rebound ace at least - now I'm not sure what we've got down under.

But I'm all for more fast hardcourts. I can't stand watching Indian Wells and Miami anymore with those ridiculous bounces. Switch one of those to clay at least so that the bounces are somewhat justified.
 
#10 ·
But I'm all for more fast hardcourts. I can't stand watching Indian Wells and Miami anymore with those ridiculous bounces. Switch one of those to clay at least so that the bounces are somewhat justified.
Yes, that really makes a lot of sense. Do you really believe that going straight from a hardcourt to clay the next week or vice versa, is a good idea? That seems pretty dumb to me.
 
#8 ·
Oh, and advantage Federer.
 
#9 ·
Faster clay at the French Open, slower grass at Wimbledon, and now a faster hardcourt at the Australian Open, almost similar to surface used at Flushing Meadows. The variety between the different surfaces continues to diminish. What an utter disgrace and complete joke.
 
#13 ·
The AO crowd will always be different.

This surface thing has been done to death so many times and the only way we will know is what happens in January.
 
#17 ·
Rebound ace and decoturf are hardly similar, and that's essentially what they're replacing it with. But as GWH said, we'll have to wait until January to know for sure.
 
#22 ·
Well I much prefer faster surfaces to slower ones. But I like the fact tennis has varity and courts have different speeds. This varity is all but dead now, and I doubt the speed of the court will be THAT much different from rebound ace.
 
#47 ·
Well what happened in the mid 90s with grass and the indoor events with their serve fests, more powerful players than before with better equipment, lighter balls and fast surfaces.

Those indoor events, might as well have played in an ice rink and just started at the TB.
 
#49 ·
Aha, I figured this is what you were going for. I guess there was no way to scale down the equipment so they decided to mess with the surfaces? That's a shame.

I have to say, though, that the best hardcourt tennis I tend to see year to year is at the US Open - which is a fast hardcourt (great rallies and all in all a better pace to matches than at the 'holy' Wimbledon). Conversely, Indian Wells and Miami are barely tolerable.

For this reason I don't mind the surface change at the Aussie too much. This is knowing that no plans to use a natural surface were ever in place.

I'd be curious to see how modern equipment would react to green clay. I want to see it. I don't know why I'm being deprived of this.
 
#50 ·
I prefer the AO, the bounce was a lot higher, but players could get rewarded for attacking play if they did at the right time.

Houston was on green clay this year and big Ivo won the title.
 
#51 ·
Houston was on green clay this year and big Ivo won the title.
Wasn't this the last year of the employment of green clay in Houston?

What's the story with that? Is green clay endangered?
 
#60 ·
2 articles on how grass has become hard court like with higher bounces and more reliable bounces:

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/wimbledon05/news/story?id=2090997

http://aeltc.wimbledon.org/en_GB/about/infosheets/grasscourts_preparation.html

"If you look at aerial photos in all the annuals, you can see how the pattern of wear on the courts has changed in recent years," said Mark Cox, a Cambridge-educated top English player in the 1960s and '70s. "Now you get this path worn along the baseline, and some mild discoloration on the path to the net. You used to have these great furrows into the net, but there are very few serve-volleyers anymore.

"I don't think the courts are actually slower, but the most noticeable thing is that the return of serve is regularly between the waist and the shoulder rather than between the waist and the knee. That alters the whole perspective of the game. Now the players with extreme grips can get a crack at the ball, whereas in my day you had to use a continental grip to get low and underneath the ball. The ball doesn't skid as much off this grass, either. You're not always lunging for a low volley or half-volley, and you don't have the bad bounces that made players not want to risk letting the ball bounce at all. We had to serve-and-volley. Players have other options now."
 
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