'greed mostly. I think a lot of his game was tailored around his stamina issues b/of thalassemia. This helped him on the fast and medium surfaces, but he couldn't find a "run-around" for the stamina issue on clay where that is one of the more important qualities for success. Unlike most, I think Pete had the game to win a French and be a consistent presence there. It was his stamina, and need to compensate for it, and inability to do so on clay that made him relatively unsuccessful there.
This, and also I think moving up to a 95 Sq In stick and joining Guga using poly would have helped immensely on clay. Another advantage of clay for Pete is he could easily just cover up any vomiting he had done on it simply by swiping the clay with his foot.
As for variety, the simple fix is forcing grass courts to require people to use straight gut, and returning the speed of the grass. This is something simple to implement and enforce at the venue itself. No need for sweeping rules, and it might actually be welcomed by many. Clay is the same as it's always been. Hard courts were always a bit random. The heat of the Aussie and US opens alone makes them a unique challenge regardless of how much sand is in the paint.
There are a lot of folks here that blame serve bots for the change and say tennis is more popular than ever now. May be. But the serve botting was not the rule. It was just shocking when it happened. And one could simply go on and watch a different match if it bothered them. The option doesn't exist today. Although I have seen Isner bring the bot days back on occasion.
Tennis is somewhat popular outside of the US. In the US, it is a distant fourth, and soccer will eventually surpass it if the population growth continues to go the way it's goin stateside. For this American, what I see as popular sports in Europe seem to have more to do with pride and nationalism than the actual sport itself. Cricket, which even according to Cricket players themselves is a terrible game and not a sport, is hugely popular mainly because colonial countries see it as placing them on an even footing for competition with England, and each other. Is this a good reason to watch 5 days of the near exact same play? Well, a billion humans seem to agree. I mean, people watch Rugby, which is the
exact same play over and over - the rules make it so purposefully. The same thing, over and over and over - and people seem to love that for some reason. So, if people can stomach that in order to shout for their favorite country they were born in even though they had no choice thereof, it's no surprise they enjoy the current style of rally tennis, no matter how monotonous, regardless of the venue. I mean, I've tried to explain baseball and American football (and the vast difference between the two due to one being nearly pastoral and the other being an analogue of war) to the locals I meet in Europe and their eyes just glaze over. Anything sport with variety, nuance, or complexity seems to be frowned upon. Which is odd seeing as they are more able for nuance and variety in their day-to-day lives and their politics, especially compared to Americans. I guess they take the 'past' bit in
pastime seriously.
Americans see themselves more isolated when it comes to sports, without any care about what England or Europe or Japan or whomever may think. Americans are far more engrossed in competition(whether by sport from a very young age or by America's rather extreme version of capitalism). America's high school gyms and stadiums are larger than some professional venues in Europe. My high school had an Olympic sized pool. It made no sense to me, but such is the investment in sports in the US when they care. So the sport itself means a bit more from that competitive stance. Things such as a game ending in a tie is akin to wasting everyone's time since nothing was really accomplished as far as sport was concerned. Some American friends of mine go as far as to say a tie in soccer makes them feel like the players made money at the spectators expense. I remind them that this is
always the case with soccer.
What's my point? Well, the world seems to like Tennis how it is, for better or worse. I wouldn't expect much change any time soon. I mean, they put a roof over Wimby and RG to make the surface and play more consistent as much as for the weather - so expect more gruelling rallying for years to come. Or even better yet - a means for them to end tennis matches with a tie.