Viable new surfaces to play on?

F

fps

Legend
Hi, the thread about the new Aussie Open surface got me thinking that I've never yet SEEN a tournament played on carpet. If anyone can fill me in on what it's like I'd be grateful. It also made me think that tournie organisers could go further out of the box thinking about surfaces. I want to see a flair tournie on concrete, a one set no tie break showdown affair on wax, a best-of-3 with moving flat escalator floors like you get at airports.

In all seriousness, all the GSs are becoming mighty similar, apart from the French. What can be done?
 
Andres

Andres

G.O.A.T.
Lyon, Zagreb Indoors, Master Series Paris and 2005 Shanghai are played on carpet.

And lots and lots of Indoor Davis Cup ties.
 
superstition

superstition

Hall of Fame
The best new surface for Wimbledon would be fescue grass. The US Open, too. The Australian Open should move to clay. That way, there would be a 50/50 grass/clay slam split. Hard courts should go the way of the dodo.
 
Jedi Knight

Jedi Knight

Rookie
I always thought a new surface for indoor tournaments would be wood, or the type of flooring that you see in a high school gymnasium. Shouldn't be too slick, but the surface would still play very fast.

In terms of a non-realistic (video game) style court, I'd like to see ice.
 
B

Benhur

Hall of Fame
superstition said:
The best new surface for Wimbledon would be fescue grass.
Click to expand...

But then be prepared to have completely bare courts by the second week of the tournament. The Head Groundsman at Wimbledon says that a few years ago they planted a quarter of a practice court with fescue grass as an experiment. It didn't last a day of play.

I posted the whole article here:

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?p=1575409&highlight=fescue#post1575409

I agree with you that hardcourts are an abomination because they greatly increase the chances of players developing chronic injuries.
 
Q

quest01

Hall of Fame
Jedi Knight said:
I always thought a new surface for indoor tournaments would be wood, or the type of flooring that you see in a high school gymnasium. Shouldn't be too slick, but the surface would still play very fast.

In terms of a non-realistic (video game) style court, I'd like to see ice.
Click to expand...

That would be interesting to play on a wood type surface. Did you get this idea from a videogame, perhaps Topspin 2? because there a few stages in this game where the surface are hardwood floors.
 
superstition

superstition

Hall of Fame
Benhur said:
But then be prepared to have completely bare courts by the second week of the tournament. The Head Groundsman at Wimbledon says that a few years ago they planted a quarter of a practice court with fescue grass as an experiment. It didn't last a day of play.
Click to expand...
If they used 100% fescue, that's why. But, if 100% rye is used at the baseline and behind and the old fescue/rye mix is used for the rest of the court, it should be fine.

If Wimbledon goes back to the grass and soil mix it used in the 1960s, tennis would be fine, with the addition of 100% rye at the baseline and behind.

I'll talk about this more in my "reform tennis" topic if anyone wants to, since it's the first thing I put in my list. http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=144573
 
Last edited:
Andres

Andres

G.O.A.T.
I played on wood before (floating-floor parquet), and it plays incredibly fast, with one heck of a bounce.

It's like Rebound Ace with the speed of Taraflex! :p
 
EliteNinja

EliteNinja

Semi-Pro
I'd like to see ripply surface with an unpredictable bounce.
Or a hard surface covered with a top layer of sand (glued onto the hard surface).

Or a surface with a really low ceiling so lobs would be impossible.
 
Eviscerator

Eviscerator

Banned
I've played on a wood surface before and the play was very fast. I doubt with the current trend to slow things down any major tourney, much less the slams will opt for a faster surface such as carpet.
 
CyBorg

CyBorg

Legend
I wouldn't mind seeing more clay as well. The Aussies should consider clay very seriously. Considering the variety of clay surfaces it wouldn't be very difficult to have something that differs from the RG surface. That way the AO wouldn't automatically favour RG winners.

Clay is much better for the body than the hardcourts. Two majors on hard is ridiculous.
 
Starlite

Starlite

Semi-Pro
I read an article once about players complaining about the great number of indoor carpent and wood courts in France, making it hard to prepare for the current state of surfaces. I think it'd be very interesting to add a wood event or two to the tour.

I think one of the GS should be played on carpet, to even things out. Four slams on 4 different surfaces.

Eliteninja: imagine taking a fall on the hardcourt with sand glued on, it would feel like sandpaper, ouch! :p
 
B

Benhur

Hall of Fame
superstition said:
If they used 100% fescue, that's why. But, if 100% rye is used at the baseline and behind and the old fescue/rye mix is used for the rest of the court, it should be fine.

If Wimbledon goes back to the grass and soil mix it used in the 1960s, tennis would be fine, with the addition of 100% rye at the baseline and behind.
Click to expand...

Well, they are already using 100% rye. So the only thing they would need to do is go back to the softer soil, but then, apparently, with the increasingly rougher and heavier thumping by today's players, the courts would be more damaged as the tournament progresses. I think current conditions are fine. If they come to feel that ball is bouncing a bit too high, they can easily lower the bounce by various means, like using different balls or a slightly longer grass (2or 3 mm longer would be plenty). In any case, having largely bare courts with a lot of bumps and a high percentage of goofy bounces would make for a return to the boom-boom era and pretty boring tennis.
 
F

fps

Legend
krprunitennis2 said:
They have some matches played on Carpet on youtube.
Click to expand...

Awesome, I'll check it out thanks. Also Starlite, the players could wear all-in-one body suits on the concrete/sand courts, with optional elbow pads- they'd be sacrificing looking cool and racquet manoeuvrability for safety, kinda like on blades (without the racquet), be a good change-up :)
 
Nadal_Freak

Nadal_Freak

Banned
They should make the Australian Open green clay. Much less grueling on the body than hard courts and faster than the French Open.
 
superstition

superstition

Hall of Fame
Benhur said:
Well, they are already using 100% rye.
Click to expand...
Yes, on the whole court, which causes the balls to bounce higher, making serve and volley less viable in conjunction with higher bouncing tennis balls and the new soil mix.
I think current conditions are fine.
Click to expand...
Serve and volley players and players who like variety disagree. There have been numerous complaints about the conditions this year on this board alone, and pros like Henman (several years ago) and others have complained.

In any case, having largely bare courts with a lot of bumps and a high percentage of goofy bounces would make for a return to the boom-boom era and pretty boring tennis.
Click to expand...
Check out my topic about tennis reform. You'll see how I've addressed all of these issues.
 
peter

peter

Professional
quest01 said:
That would be interesting to play on a wood type surface. Did you get this idea from a videogame, perhaps Topspin 2? because there a few stages in this game where the surface are hardwood floors.
Click to expand...

I have played tennis on a wood type surface. Fun? Umm.. If your idea of fun is: "Guess which way the serve is coming and throw yourself in that direction and you just *might* hit the ball back - and in that case it's a winner for you.". Fast... Insanely fast and low bouncing...
 
Andres

Andres

G.O.A.T.
peter said:
I have played tennis on a wood type surface. Fun? Umm.. If your idea of fun is: "Guess which way the serve is coming and throw yourself in that direction and you just *might* hit the ball back - and in that case it's a winner for you.". Fast... Insanely fast and low bouncing...
Click to expand...
Low bouncing? I played on pulished wood (parquet), and it was insanely fast, but high bouncing. Like a hardcourt, or even more.
 
davey

davey

Rookie
Wood is very fast with a true bounce. I practiced on it in high school when we couldn't play outside.

One surface that might be slower than clay and would produce some interesting bounces would be the same dirt used on major league baseball infields. It's very soft and loose to allow players to slide into bases. I would even allow tennis players to wear cleats to get better traction on it. After every six games the ground crew could drag the court to smooth it out.
 
P

pow

Hall of Fame
Ice courts, water courts (1/2 inch of water), and sand courts! Dangerous, yeah, but what's life without some thrills?

Ice court will be the ultimate fast court while water and sand courts will be slowwwwwwwwwwwww.

Yes, this is a joke(don't get angry and try to make an argument against it, resistance is futile), but a guy can dream right?
 
F

fps

Legend
Yeah, and how about a tournament where the balls are soaked in water before play and between points?
 
davey

davey

Rookie
How about taller grass? It would be slower than the short stuff but lower bouncing. Say 1 1/2 or 2 inches. It would be more durable than the short stuff so there would be fewer dirt patches at the end of a tournament.
 
B

bluetrain4

G.O.A.T.
Jedi Knight said:
I always thought a new surface for indoor tournaments would be wood, or the type of flooring that you see in a high school gymnasium. Shouldn't be too slick, but the surface would still play very fast.

In terms of a non-realistic (video game) style court, I'd like to see ice.
Click to expand...

In high school, we would practice on the basketball courts before the snow melted from the outdoor tennis courts.

Hardwood gym floors were very fast and skiddy.
 
C

charlottefromca

Rookie
clay courts with random patches of quicksand

or maybe courts that move (like in mario tennis), like those things in the airport (I can't remember what they're called) its like a flat escalator
 
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