AO now playing FASTER than the USO?

[kanamit]

I was watching ESPN's coverage of the Fed-Raonic match last night, and Patrick McEnroe stated explicitly that, with the courts playing faster this year, that the AO surface is now quicker than the surface at Flushing Meadows. Fowler asked him, "Isn't that the opposite of how it used to be for a long time?" PMac immediately said yes, then proceeded to go on about how the courts were all being slowed down for the past ten years, and how it will be nice to see more variety and some quicker courts in the future.

So two questions: what does this slight change of surface speed at the AO mean for the top players? Who benefits the most/the least? And don't PMac's remarks confirm what many posters here have often derided as conspiracy theory -- that almost all surfaces on the tour have been slowed down significantly in recent years?

[TTMR]

Originally Posted by kanamit

I was watching ESPN's coverage of the Fed-Raonic match last night, and Patrick McEnroe stated explicitly that, with the courts playing faster this year, that the AO surface is now quicker than the surface at Flushing Meadows. Fowler asked him, "Isn't that the opposite of how it used to be for a long time?" PMac immediately said yes, then proceeded to go on about how the courts were all being slowed down for the past ten years, and how it will be nice to see more variety and some quicker courts in the future.

So two questions: what does this slight change of surface speed at the AO mean for the top players? Who benefits the most/the least? And don't PMac's remarks confirm what many posters here have often derided as conspiracy theory -- that almost all surfaces on the tour have been slowed down significantly in recent years?

Commentators are told to fill airtime with as many words as possible. With people like the McEnroes, Gilbert, Cahill and Carillo around, most of those words are going to be inane. It is a dreary reality of life as a tennis fan.

AO now playing FASTER than the USO?

It isn't.

[kanamit]

Originally Posted by TTMR

Commentators are told

Not sure what you mean by this. PMac stated clearly that while he had not played on Rod Laver, he had played on the satellite courts, and that they were indeed faster than the courts at the USO.