daggerman
Hall of Fame
I hadn't realized until today that the ITF maintains a database of court speed classifications for all of the surface manufacturers that are registered on it. For those unfamiliar with this, each surfaces falls into one of 5 categories: (1) Slow, (2) Medium-Slow, (3) Medium, (4) Medium-Fast, (5) Fast. I often read on here that the Rebound Ace surface used at the Australian Open until 2008 was faster than the Plexicushion surface that replaced it. While I've been somewhat skeptical of that claim, without data it's hard to say either way.
I looked up all of the Rebound Ace, Plexicushion, and GreenSet surfaces in the database, and this is how they're categorized:
Rebound Ace GS 8 MM: Category 3 (Medium)
Rebound Ace HSA Club: Category 3 (Medium)
Rebound Ace Synpave: Category 3 (Medium))
Plexicushion Prestige: Category 4 (Medium-Fast)
GreenSet Australian Open**: Category 4 (Medium-Fast)
I have two questions, but feel free to share any thoughts:
1. For those who believe AO Rebound Ace was faster than AO Plexicushion and/or AO GreenSet, how do you reconcile that belief with that data presented above? Is it that none of the 3 Rebound Ace surfaces currently registered with the ITF are the same as the Rebound Ace surface used for the Australian Open? Is the Plexicushion surface that is currently registered different?
2. Why doesn't this ITF classification data feature more prominently in discussions of surface speed on here? Is the data misleading in some way? How so?
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**Note: there are several other GreenSet surfaces in the database, some of which are categorized as "Medium," but since I'm limiting the discussion to the Australian Open, I've only included the specific GreenSet surface that is used there.
Source: itftennis.com
I looked up all of the Rebound Ace, Plexicushion, and GreenSet surfaces in the database, and this is how they're categorized:
Rebound Ace GS 8 MM: Category 3 (Medium)
Rebound Ace HSA Club: Category 3 (Medium)
Rebound Ace Synpave: Category 3 (Medium))
Plexicushion Prestige: Category 4 (Medium-Fast)
GreenSet Australian Open**: Category 4 (Medium-Fast)
I have two questions, but feel free to share any thoughts:
1. For those who believe AO Rebound Ace was faster than AO Plexicushion and/or AO GreenSet, how do you reconcile that belief with that data presented above? Is it that none of the 3 Rebound Ace surfaces currently registered with the ITF are the same as the Rebound Ace surface used for the Australian Open? Is the Plexicushion surface that is currently registered different?
2. Why doesn't this ITF classification data feature more prominently in discussions of surface speed on here? Is the data misleading in some way? How so?
---
**Note: there are several other GreenSet surfaces in the database, some of which are categorized as "Medium," but since I'm limiting the discussion to the Australian Open, I've only included the specific GreenSet surface that is used there.
Source: itftennis.com