Is the grass season too short?

The surfaces total should be

  • 42% grass, 40% clay, 10% hard, and 8% carpet

    Votes: 8 4.8%

  • 40% grass, 30% clay, 20% hard, and 10% carpet

    Votes: 3 1.8%

  • 30% grass, 30% clay, 30% hard, and 10% carpet

    Votes: 61 36.3%

  • 30% grass, 30% clay, 25% hard, and 15% carpet

    Votes: 12 7.1%

  • 35% grass, 35% clay, 25% hard, and 5% carpet

    Votes: 16 9.5%

  • 25% grass, 40% clay, 30% hard, and 5% carpet

    Votes: 9 5.4%

  • 20% grass, 25% clay, 40% hard, and 15% carpet

    Votes: 26 15.5%

  • 20% grass, 30% clay, 40% hard, and 10% carpet

    Votes: 21 12.5%

  • 20% grass, 40% clay, 30% hard, and 10% carpet

    Votes: 1 0.6%

  • 10% grass, 40% clay, 42% hard, and 8% carpet

    Votes: 11 6.5%
  • Total voters
    168
superstition

superstition

Hall of Fame
Nadal_Freak said:
I see more people slipping on grass than anywhere else. It probably is the most dangerous surface due to all the slipping.
Click to expand...
Let's see the statistics, such as knee/ankle problems due to slippage on grass versus problems due to concrete. Navratilova reduced her hard court play in the mid 80s, citing their hardness on her body. She didn't reduce grass court play for the same reason. I've never heard any pro complain that grass is hard on the body and more likely to cause injury than another surface.
 
Nadal_Freak

Nadal_Freak

Banned
superstition said:
Let's see the statistics, such as knee/ankle problems due to slippage on grass versus problems due to concrete. Navratilova reduced her hard court play in the mid 80s, citing their hardness on her body. She didn't reduce grass court play for the same reason. I've never heard any pro complain that grass is hard on the body and more likely to cause injury than another surface.
Click to expand...
You got a point but still got to be careful. Especially when the grass is slightly damp. Yeah Nadal doesn't look comfortable on hardcourts. I think it has taken its toll.
 
HyperHorse

HyperHorse

Banned
I've got a much better idea for an extended grass court season...
Have some tourneys DURING the French Open, so guys who know they aren't going to do well on clay can get some grass court play instead of wasting time @ French Open, or if they lose early...
Or maybe in the few weeks after Wimbledon, or/and an extra tourney pushing Wimbledon a week forward.
 
superstition

superstition

Hall of Fame
What about overlap? Aren't there already examples of multiple surfaces being used at the same time? As far as I know, hard court tournaments used to be played alongside grass events. But, there should be a Masters on grass and the WTA should have similar event(s).
 
kalic

kalic

Professional
Grass was interesting in Borg/Connors era. Now, you dont watch tennis, you watch services. Boring...
 
Blade0324

Blade0324

Hall of Fame
[/QUOTE]Opinions are never equal. Opinions are estimations of truth and truth is singular. If someone's opinion is that the moon is made of green cheese that opinion is less valid than another's opinion that it is made of rock. Evidence is what counts.[/QUOTE]

So where is your evidence? Seems to me that you have none, so that means your opinion doesn't count. Sounds good to me.
 
Blade0324

Blade0324

Hall of Fame
superstition said:
Let's see the statistics, such as knee/ankle problems due to slippage on grass versus problems due to concrete. Navratilova reduced her hard court play in the mid 80s, citing their hardness on her body. She didn't reduce grass court play for the same reason. I've never heard any pro complain that grass is hard on the body and more likely to cause injury than another surface.
Click to expand...
WOW, one whole example that is over 20 years old. There are some statistics for you. If you want to talk statistics then have them, otherwise you are just rambling incessently about what YOU think and you have your earplugs in and blinders on to other more rational ideas.
 
V

Vision84

Hall of Fame
Opinions are never equal. Opinions are estimations of truth and truth is singular. If someone's opinion is that the moon is made of green cheese that opinion is less valid than another's opinion that it is made of rock. Evidence is what counts.
Click to expand...

It's called objectivty versus subjectivity. Anything tangible such as the composition of an object is something that is objective. Preference of anything (ie opinions) such as what court is better is entirely subjective.
 
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martin8768

martin8768

Rookie
okay i got bored of this thread because of all the trolling and arguments, i mean comon guys can't we have one thread that everyone can share their opinions without someone trying to make their opinion right and everyone else's wrong? anyways once i see someone quoting more then 2 times in one post it seems like their just trying to start a argument,

back on topic, i believe the grass season is to short, but the game is evolving and it seems like grass hasn't changed since ever, and some could say that grass is a tradition of tennis, and i think grass should never go away, but things change and the surface is not what most of the players enjoy i think, it's sometimes inconsistent, and these days, with technology, athletes can argue that they should each get a equal advantage, but grass is tricky and its never the same on ever spot of every court.
 
edmondsm

edmondsm

Legend
martin8768 said:
back on topic, i believe the grass season is to short, but the game is evolving and it seems like grass hasn't changed since ever, and some could say that grass is a tradition of tennis, and i think grass should never go away, but things change and the surface is not what most of the players enjoy i think, it's sometimes inconsistent, and these days, with technology, athletes can argue that they should each get a equal advantage, but grass is tricky and its never the same on ever spot of every court.
Click to expand...

Most would tell you that grass HAS changed, especially at Wimbledon. But I don't think that that has anything to do with the length of the season. Tennis venues the world round are just able to make more money with hardcourts. You don't have to do anything to a hardcourt comparitively, you just lay the surface and play. Grass courts need constant attention and maintainence, same with clay courts, and that means less $$$$ for everybody. With the exception of the grounds crue. Grass remains simply because of tradition, if the All-England club was just looking at their bottom line they would have gone to a hardcourt years ago.
 
superstition

superstition

Hall of Fame
edmondsm said:
Tennis venues the world round are just able to make more money with hardcourts. You don't have to do anything to a hardcourt comparitively, you just lay the surface and play. Grass courts need constant attention and maintainence, same with clay courts, and that means less $$$$ for everybody. With the exception of the grounds crue.
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Less money for the players who have longer and more productive (less time injured) careers? If grass wasn't profitable, tennis would have switched to clay or hard court a long time ago. Instead, tennis was played on grass for a long time and was popular. In the 20s when Tilden really popularized tennis in America no one said "this sport stinks because of the grass".

The loss of grass courts is one of the factors that has led to the decline of tennis in the USA. Fans want to see their favorite players, not have them retire young (WTA anyone?) or have them pull out so often.

Money can be made with grass tournaments. Superficial greed that hurts the sport overall isn't a long-term strategy for profit.
 
superstition

superstition

Hall of Fame
PCXL-Fan said:
So whats the reason for no love of carpet? and why wasn't melbourn considered for carpet?
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Carpet is a fast surface as far as I know, but it's only used indoors. Most tournaments, to my knowledge, are played outdoors. I doubt many people are going to press tennis to change toward more indoor tournaments, although I suppose it's possible.

It's nice to see Nadal doing so well on fast grass. It shows that even someone without a traditional grass court game can do well on the surface.
 
superstition

superstition

Hall of Fame
One thing people should note when looking at the results to this poll is that there are a lot of countries where clay is very popular. The fact that this poll is unscientific is demonstrated by the bias in favor of hard court and against clay that's shown in the results. But, even if this poll were scientific, there's also the issue of changing perspective. If this poll would have been conducted in 1990, 1980, 1970, 1960, and 1950, the results would likely be different in each decade.
 
Q

quest01

Hall of Fame
Whats with all the percentages, wow. I do think the grass court season should be longer. It would be nice if they extended the season and included a Masters Series event on grass.
 
superstition

superstition

Hall of Fame
quest01 said:
Whats with all the percentages, wow. I do think the grass court season should be longer. It would be nice if they extended the season and included a Masters Series event on grass.
Click to expand...
Is there a WTA equivalent of the Masters Series? I know there is a year-end championship.
 
J

janipyt05

Professional
Its not short because English weather will only permit for a short season, any earlier and it will rain any later and guess what it will rain.
 
Char

Char

Rookie
It is way too short. I personally feel it should be this way:

30% grass, 30% clay, 25% hard, and 15% carpet

Just drop hard by 5% and toss it into carpet as hard court play is a little too hard on the body over the years. I might drop hard to 20%, but I voted as above.

Problem is the dates on which RG and Wimbledon fall. You'd have to move the dates around some to extend the grass series a bit, and that is about as likely as me winning Wimbledon next year. Look out Federer! ;)
 
Nadal_Monfils

Nadal_Monfils

Semi-Pro
^^^ Or they could have a Grass Masters Series or two after Wimbledon and shorten the summer hardcourt season. The Masters Series wouldn't be a warm-up for Wimbledon but there is still Queens and Halle for that purpose and then there could be some more important grass tournaments.
 
Char

Char

Rookie
Nadal_Monfils said:
^^^ Or they could have a Grass Masters Series or two after Wimbledon and shorten the summer hardcourt season. The Masters Series wouldn't be a warm-up for Wimbledon but there is still Queens and Halle for that purpose and then there could be some more important grass tournaments.
Click to expand...

They could. I thought about that, but I wonder what pros would stick on the grass after Wimbledon is over, versus moving on to lead up series for the next slam? Maybe if, as you say, there really wasnt any hardcourt series worthy of attention for a little while to give them the incentive to stay on the grass some. It'd be such a nice thing.
 
W

willgonase10

Banned
I say screw the indoor European tournaments in the fall.

Push the US Open Series & US Open back a month each and insert some more grass into the season.
 
superstition

superstition

Hall of Fame
janipyt05 said:
Its not short because English weather will only permit for a short season, any earlier and it will rain any later and guess what it will rain.
Click to expand...
Grass tournaments can be added from places like New Zealand which have an ideal climate. And, since most tennis was once played on grass, it seems there is a way to have grass more than for just a short window.
 
superstition

superstition

Hall of Fame
what pros would stick on the grass after Wimbledon is over, versus moving on to lead up series for the next slam? Maybe if, as you say, there really wasnt any hardcourt series worthy of attention for a little while to give them the incentive to stay on the grass some.
Click to expand...
A Masters event would be an incentive. Plus, some players used to specialize in grass, like players specialize in the other two surfaces today.
 
edmondsm

edmondsm

Legend
superstition said:
Grass tournaments can be added from places like New Zealand which have an ideal climate. And, since most tennis was once played on grass, it seems there is a way to have grass more than for just a short window.
Click to expand...


Honestly though what was that grass like? I don't think that most of those grass tourneys from back in the day looked anything like Wimbledon. Seeing old Aussie Open videos..........it looks like somebody's backyard in Wyoming. I think it is very expensive to maintain a quality grass court that pros (these days) would be willing to play on.

Seriously though, has competitive tennis ever been attempted on an artificial grass surface? That might be a decent compromise.
 
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superstition

superstition

Hall of Fame
edmondsm said:
Honestly though what was that grass like? I don't think that most of those grass tourneys from back in the day looked anything like Wimbledon. Seeing old Aussie Open videos..........it looks like somebody's backyard in Wyoming. I think it is very expensive to maintain a quality grass court that pros (these days) would be willing to play on.
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The Tennis Channel had a special about the Evert family and it showed the old US Open tournament. Those lawns were beautiful. Also, I've seen some grass tournaments on the channel and they look great. The only ratty grass court I've seen in the AO's. Australia probably is too dry.
Seriously though, has competitive tennis ever been attempted on an artificial grass surface? That might be a decent compromise.
Click to expand...
It's been used heavily in Australia I've heard and people say it's terrible.
 
superstition

superstition

Hall of Fame
Quite a few people have been talking about the quality of play at Wimbledon lately, that the grass is helping to make upsets more common and things more interesting. How many would have expected Safin to take out Djokovic on a hard court? What about Ivanovic?

A section of the men's draw features guys we don't normally see much of. Tipsarevic. Clement. Cilic. etc.
 
Blade0324

Blade0324

Hall of Fame
Not sure why this is coming back around again but as I've said I would prefer them to get rid of grass. If they have to add some more clay or indoor carpet that would be fine but grass court tennis is just slowly becoming a thing of the past.
 
Blade0324

Blade0324

Hall of Fame
superstition said:
Why?


And if more grass tournaments come into being it will become a thing of the future. Your reasoning is specious.
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Because grass makes for less exciting tennis IMO. I completely love long back and forth rallies from the baseline the majority of the time. I don't mind when a players comes to net to finish on occasion or as a change of pace when the opportunity presents itself but the have fast, low bouncing grass tournaments creates much net play as well as S&V which leads to short points. That is quite boring IMO. Also grass makes for more difficult TV watching due to it's color as the color of the ball. I generally am not a fan of grass. I've played on it and don't like it, it seems very unnatural to play on. I know that the roots of tennis are on grass but it still seems odd and uncomfortable. I would prefer basically clay and H/C with some indoor carpet thrown in.
 
Phil

Phil

Hall of Fame
The grass season is too short, but I would only be in favor of extending it IF the surfaces conformed to the OLD Wimbledon grass (i.e. pre-2002)...complete with the low bouncing skids...
 
superstition

superstition

Hall of Fame
Because grass makes for less exciting tennis IMO. I completely love long back and forth rallies from the baseline the majority of the time.
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There are many clay tournaments for your preference. Some of us find topspin baselining tedious.
 
D

dbc244

New User
No doubt about it, the grass season is way too short & the clay season way too long.
Grass court tennis is so entertaining & we don't get nearly enough of it
 
J

joeri888

G.O.A.T.
Grass season should be longer and a bit quicker (Queens club kinda courts) hardcourts should be shorter and clay is good the way it is. I think it should be clay and Grass equally long. Hardcourts a bit longer than that and some (masters) carpet tournaments as well to add diversity to the game.

@Bless Rafa: If you put down your spanish glasses, explain to me why there should be more clay. There's a grandslam and 3 master series events on clay. That's 30% of the season. More than enough if you ask me. Hardcourts are a joy to watch as well.
 
GOD_BLESS_RAFA

GOD_BLESS_RAFA

Semi-Pro
hello Joeri888

ok ok LOL so they should replace 2 hard court events with 2 grass events ;) you happy now?
Hard courts are too fast to watch no?

It sometimes reminds me of a ping pong match in a different version LOL

I am sorry I prefer to watch grass and clay tennis if I have to spend my money
 
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