AO court speed

Blade0324 · Jan 19, 2009

So last year the new surface at the AO was discussed at great length. However since the surface is not really new this year (just resurfaced) no one is talking about it. From the matches I've watched and the commentators talking about it, sounds like they slowed them down quite a bit by adding a lot of grit to the surface. This makes for higher bounces and makes slice less effective etc. I personally like the decision to slow them down as it will make things a bit more grueling and make for longer points. Anyone else have thoughts?

veroniquem · Jan 19, 2009

Blade0324 said:
So last year the new surface at the AO was discussed at great length. However since the surface is not really new this year (just resurfaced) no one is talking about it. From the matches I've watched and the commentators talking about it, sounds like they slowed them down quite a bit by adding a lot of grit to the surface. This makes for higher bounces and makes slice less effective etc. I personally like the decision to slow them down as it will make things a bit more grueling and make for longer points. Anyone else have thoughts?

The bounces looked high indeed. I was wondering if it was my imagination as they didn't seem to be that high last year.

vmosrafa08 · Jan 19, 2009

Actually, during a match that I watched, they talked about it a lot. They said that the court is covered in acryllic, and to add a lot of grit, they added sand to the mixture. They said that they wanted to decrease the speed of the court. They also said that the balls fluff up easily because of the texture of the court.

edberg505 · Jan 19, 2009

Blade0324 said:
So last year the new surface at the AO was discussed at great length. However since the surface is not really new this year (just resurfaced) no one is talking about it. From the matches I've watched and the commentators talking about it, sounds like they slowed them down quite a bit by adding a lot of grit to the surface. This makes for higher bounces and makes slice less effective etc. I personally like the decision to slow them down as it will make things a bit more grueling and make for longer points. Anyone else have thoughts?

The courts were just as slow last year. There's really no difference.

veroniquem · Jan 19, 2009

edberg505 said:
The courts were just as slow last year. There's really no difference.

I disagree, from what I've seen so far they are definitely slower this year.

vmosrafa08 · Jan 19, 2009

edberg505 said:
The courts were just as slow last year. There's really no difference.

Not true. They added sand to the paint so that they could slow down the court. Please watch a match, or find out more about this topic before responding.

edberg505 · Jan 19, 2009

veroniquem said:
I disagree, from what I've seen so far they are definitely slower this year.

Go back and look at the matches from last year. Actually the players were complaining from the start of the tournament last year about how slow the courts were. Also, listen to the commentators about how the balls would get torn up and how they had to come and sweep the felt off the court left over by the balls because they would become so fluffed up after a few games. The courts at our club here play pretty much the same way. I honestly don't see any difference.

edberg505 · Jan 19, 2009

vmosrafa08 said:
Not true. They added sand to the paint so that they could slow down the court. Please watch a match, or find out more about this topic before responding.

Or for FFS, I know all about how they make a court slow. I don't need to hear it from a commentator. I actually play tennis and have played tennis on a wide variety of courts.

crazylevity · Jan 19, 2009

I don't know about how it looked like on TV, but I watched the night session live and the slices looked very low, and the pace of the shots was fast. But then, it might just have been because this was the first time watching grand slam tennis live.

RF007 · Jan 19, 2009

So now the Australian Open is played on blue clay?
Kidding!

Anyway, I think it's a good decision to slow it down just so its court speed would be more different compared to that at the US Open.

tacou · Jan 19, 2009

I guess if Rafa wins we will know they are slow, but if anyone else wins they must be fast. riiight?

veroniquem · Jan 19, 2009

tacou said:
I guess if Rafa wins we will know they are slow, but if anyone else wins they must be fast. riiight?

Not necessarily, Rafa likes fast too as long as it takes the spin well.

drakulie · Jan 19, 2009

veroniquem said:
Not necessarily, Rafa likes fast too as long as it takes the spin well.

He doesn't like fast courts, which is why he sucks on hard courts.

tacou · Jan 19, 2009

I was jjust kidding... hmm if Rafa sucks on hard courts I'd sure like to suck as well ! 2 GS semis, Olmypic gold, 2 MS shields plus another final. pretty good HC career.

oh wait. that's just 08.

bolo · Jan 19, 2009

It's a slow court. Relatively low bounce and I agree slices stay low.

Deleted member 25923 · Jan 19, 2009

tacou said:
I was jjust kidding... hmm if Rafa sucks on hard courts I'd sure like to suck as well ! 2 GS semis, Olmypic gold, 2 MS shields plus another final. pretty good HC career.

oh wait. that's just 08.

He won one HC MS shield, no?

bluetrain4 · Jan 19, 2009

edberg505 said:
The courts were just as slow last year. There's really no difference.

I can't really tell about the speed difference. But, last year the courts were an interesting combination of fairly slow (medium-slow?) AND low bouncing on flat and slice shots, yet balls hit with massive topspin were able to kick up. So players trying to hit through the court with flat shots could do it, and coming in off low slices was an option since the ball stayed really low. Yet, the court would take heavy topspin and kick it up. These properties TOGETHER, we don't see that often.

Court speed is obviously a huge factor, but I think the height of the bounce is also incredibly important.

tacou · Jan 19, 2009

Mansewerz said:
He won one HC MS shield, no?

woops I thought he defended Indian Wells for some reason

seffina · Jan 19, 2009

I don't think they're much slower than last year. Maybe it's the ESPN angle which is making it look different? Although, it should make them look faster because of the angle.. hmm. I've confused myself, but I watched the Tsonga/Nadal, Fed/Djokovic, and Djokovic/Tsonga matches just last week and the courts don't look any slower. The quality of tennis definitely is...

JankovicFan · Jan 19, 2009

This is hopeless. People don't even agree on what "slow" means. Are we talking low bounce or high bounce? That is less confusing. Then discuss why it bounces and how much. If someone says the ball skids, isn't that a low bounce? That's what I was seeing, because Federer repeatedly golfed shots a fraction of a second after the ball had bounced. There was none of this forehand from shoulder height business...not that I noticed anyway. ICBW.

fastdunn · Jan 19, 2009

All courts are slow since 2003. US Open, Wimbledon, Australian Open. And Roland Garros, despite getting quicker, the slowest.

Federer and Nadal are two rulers on this slowed world. Expect Nadal also win on these slow sandy hard courts sooner or later.

abmk · Jan 19, 2009

fastdunn said:
All courts are slow since 2003. US Open, Wimbledon, Australian Open. And Roland Garros, despite getting quicker, the slowest.

Federer and Nadal are two rulers on this slowed world. Expect Nadal also win on these slow sandy hard courts sooner or later.

U.S.O is a slow court , LOL !

Wimbledon isn't slow , its medium-fast, though much slower than what it used to be earlier.

abmk · Jan 19, 2009

Haven't noticed too much of a difference from last year. Slightly slower I think.

Blade0324 · Jan 19, 2009

I like the post that talked about the bounces. I agree that topspin shot really kick up on these courts almost to the end of sitting up. That does not work well for Nadal as he can already get the ball to kick up high with his spin. A faster surface allows his shots to kick up high and still penetrate the courts well. From what I could tell watching players will need to really hit flatter balls in order to hit good winners as then the ball seems to move through the court pretty quick. This to me works well for the likes of Blake, Nalbandian, Murray, and possibly even Roddick as they tend to hit with less spin. I do think that the fact that the ball sits up a little bit on heavy spin shots will aid players that are defensive and able to run more balls down. I like the somewhat blended surface that the AO organizers have put together. Should make for an interesting tourney.

seffina · Jan 19, 2009

Guess I'll have to go out and buy a gear stick. Are they expensive? How do you tell a slow one from a fast one?

Blade0324 · Jan 19, 2009

seffina said:
Guess I'll have to go out and buy a gear stick. Are they expensive? How do you tell a slow one from a fast one?

?????????????????????

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