Balls used at RG this year, a disadvantage for players using a lot of spin ?

Vilas said that because the balls used this year are heavier it is more difficult to put spin into the ball. On the other hand it favoured players hitting flat (like Soderling). Is this true, were the balls really heavier this year ? Maybe it in not a far-fectched theory as there was only 1 Spaniard in the quarters this year.
 

Nadal_Freak

Banned
The balls were smaller and easier to crank according to McEnroe. He also said these were one of the fastest balls he's ever played with. I'm not sure about the weight but it didn't seem to take spin as well as in the past.
 

ghostbear

Rookie
Don't know. But J-Mac said the new balls were the fastest he's ever seen at the FO. Who knows if he was talking out of his ass?
 

Nadal_Freak

Banned
Also to mention is they didn't have as much top layer clay this year. They really wanted to speed up the conditions with the courts and balls. It plays like a high bouncing hard court now.
 

batz

G.O.A.T.
Pat Cash during commentary at Queen's:

"The balls here are like lead in comparison to the Roland Garros balls - they were like bullets".
 

thejoe

Hall of Fame
Also to mention is they didn't have as much top layer clay this year. They really wanted to speed up the conditions with the courts and balls. It plays like a high bouncing hard court now.

I think they did. It was just windy beyond belief.
 

sureshs

Bionic Poster
So, let me get this right: the court was sped up by using less clay, and smaller, faster balls were used. What were the reasons for these changes and were they made known prior to their implementation? Seems like a big conspiracy to me.
 

theduh

Semi-Pro
So, let me get this right: the court was sped up by using less clay, and smaller, faster balls were used. What were the reasons for these changes and were they made known prior to their implementation? Seems like a big conspiracy to me.

Yes this is true! And this sport is no longer called tennis, it's now table tennis!
 

theduh

Semi-Pro
Crap load of non-sense! Did you guys watched the same FO I watched this year? It's the same tournament, same court, okay given new balls but have you guys ever considered the weather? It was blowing like there's no tomorrow for the entire 2 weeks.
 

Nadal_Freak

Banned
Crap load of non-sense! Did you guys watched the same FO I watched this year? It's the same tournament, same court, okay given new balls but have you guys ever considered the weather? It was blowing like there's no tomorrow for the entire 2 weeks.
Grounds crew is supposed to replace the clay. It seemed like they decided they wanted it to be a little faster and decided not to do it.
 

Nadal_Freak

Banned
Where did you get this information? Please don't tell me it came from jmac?
You can tell from watching it on tv. The clay was very thin and seemed very slippery for Nadal. Hard court movers like Roddick and Del Potro found it more comfortable to play their usual game.
 
I love these conspiracy threads with no links and no supporting information whatsoever. Links please, if you want anyone to take you the least bit seriously. I'd love to see a link citing a groundskeeper or tennis ball manufacturer, by the way, not one to Vilas guessing the balls are heavy or small. Heck, even a copy of a receipt or order stating the specifications for the balls would be useful. Credible sources. At this point, all of the whiners about this conspiracy have NONE. ZIP. ZERO. NADA. Where are they?
 

theduh

Semi-Pro
You can tell from watching it on tv. The clay was very thin and seemed very slippery for Nadal. Hard court movers like Roddick and Del Potro found it more comfortable to play their usual game.

OMG here you go again with the TV angle and views. It's not only Nadal who slipped on court, there are a lot of players slipping and honestly I do not know why.

Until proven other wise by means of facts, my views will not change.
 

jmverdugo

Hall of Fame
The only difference with this year is that the weather was dryer so the air was less humid and the first layer of clay didnt last that much because of the wind. So you would have to put God on that conspiracy too.

Nadal is a good player he can adapt himself to basically any court surface so stop the nonsense, the only acceptable reason why he lost is that Soderling was the better olayer that day. It happens, you can say it has something tod with his knees (which I beleive is the real reason) but is all part of the game, if you go to play knowing you have a pain in your knee you have to know it will bother you while playing, you cant come after the game saying that you lost because of the pain, if this is the case then do not play in the first place. Nadal fans shuold act more like him and stop the excuses and recognize he is human too.
 

The tennis guy

Hall of Fame
You can tell from watching it on tv. The clay was very thin and seemed very slippery for Nadal. Hard court movers like Roddick and Del Potro found it more comfortable to play their usual game.

Give us a break. You are demeaning Nadal's achievement. He won Australian Open on hardcourt, won Wimbledon on grass, he could certainly win on clay court with less clay as you claimed.

There is no grand slam event that has same court and same ball. They change every year. Natural surface changes even more due to sensitivity to weather.
 

Nellie

Hall of Fame
Balls do change year to year. In talking to my Head/Penn rep, all of the balls for the year are brought by boat in a huge crate from Asian. the balls are over inflated, deflate to normal levels while being brought to Europe/USA, and then packaged. If the balls stay at sea too long (e.g., hit a storm, get stuck in custumes, etc.), they are dead for the year. If the boat gets there fast, the balls are hard and fast for the year.
 

theduh

Semi-Pro
Balls do change year to year. In talking to my Head/Penn rep, all of the balls for the year are brought by boat in a huge crate from Asian. the balls are over inflated, deflate to normal levels while being brought to Europe/USA, and then packaged. If the balls stay at sea too long (e.g., hit a storm, get stuck in custumes, etc.), they are dead for the year. If the boat gets there fast, the balls are hard and fast for the year.

That is why there are QA's and tennis ball specifications.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_ball#Pressure-less_balls

So to claim that the ball has less weight, smaller, etc, etc, etc is completely stupid and ludicrous.
 

AAAA

Hall of Fame
So, let me get this right: the court was sped up by using less clay, and smaller, faster balls were used. What were the reasons for these changes

After helping Nadal for 4 years they decided to help other players for a change.
 

Nadal_Freak

Banned
Give us a break. You are demeaning Nadal's achievement. He won Australian Open on hardcourt, won Wimbledon on grass, he could certainly win on clay court with less clay as you claimed.

There is no grand slam event that has same court and same ball. They change every year. Natural surface changes even more due to sensitivity to weather.

Nadal could play on ice courts as well. It doesn't make it right that they made this change at this point to suit Federer and big servers. I'm not too sure about the balls changing so much each year. This year was way faster though.
 

JeMar

Legend
Both players have to deal with the same court, so this is really a moot point. I didn't hear you complaining this much about the speed of Wimbledon's grass.
 

Nadal_Freak

Banned
Both players have to deal with the same court, so this is really a moot point. I didn't hear you complaining this much about the speed of Wimbledon's grass.
I just don't like when my beloved clay courts don't play traditional to how a clay court should play like. This isn't just about Nadal. It's about ruining clay courts with more ball bashing that should only be apart of hardcourt tennis. :(
 

JeMar

Legend
I just don't like when my beloved clay courts don't play traditional to how a clay court should play like. This isn't just about Nadal. It's about ruining clay courts with more ball bashing that should only be apart of hardcourt tennis. :(

I just don't like when my beloved grass courts don't play traditional to how a grass court should play like. This isn't just about Federer and other offensive players. It's about ruining grass with more retrieving and defense that should only be a part of slow hard courts and clay courts.
 

Nadal_Freak

Banned
I just don't like when my beloved grass courts don't play traditional to how a grass court should play like. This isn't just about Federer and other offensive players. It's about ruining grass with more retrieving and defense that should only be a part of slow hard courts and clay courts.

Alright fair enough. I heard they are speeding up the grass this year. RG needs to go back to the way it should play though.
 

JeMar

Legend
If they speed the grass up like they say they will, I will be the first person next year that demands for slow courts at Roland Garros.
 

Pidgeon

Semi-Pro
what the hell is this ?
conspiracy theories ?
ok they might have made some changes with the balls etc
but its still tennis and the changes go for everybody !!
the reason why nadal lost is because he didnt play well ! point final
im not a fed or nad fan i just enjoy the tennis
and these theories are just lame, sorry
 

rod99

Professional
the french tennis federation generally asks the french players how they would like the court to play in order to help them. this is a fact. tsonga, simon, and monfils play better on faster surfaces and thus, the court this year reflected that.
 

sureshs

Bionic Poster
what the hell is this ?
conspiracy theories ?
ok they might have made some changes with the balls etc
but its still tennis and the changes go for everybody !!
the reason why nadal lost is because he didnt play well ! point final
im not a fed or nad fan i just enjoy the tennis
and these theories are just lame, sorry

The first time such theories surfaced were when Federer lost to Nadal in Wimbledon. There was lot of talk about how the grass was slowed down and how different surfaces should retain their individuality. Now the coin is flipped, that is all.
 

Fedace

Banned
The balls were smaller and easier to crank according to McEnroe. He also said these were one of the fastest balls he's ever played with. I'm not sure about the weight but it didn't seem to take spin as well as in the past.

Well.. No wonder Rafa lost...
 

fed_rulz

Hall of Fame
The first time such theories surfaced were when Federer lost to Nadal in Wimbledon. There was lot of talk about how the grass was slowed down and how different surfaces should retain their individuality. Now the coin is flipped, that is all.

I've been hearing of the "grass" slowing down theory since 2006, when Nadal made it to the finals. I'm glad that the days of the boring serve fests are over (in the 90s); an unfortunate side-effect was that it also killed S & V in wimby.
 
D

Deleted member 21996

Guest
The balls were smaller and easier to crank according to McEnroe. He also said these were one of the fastest balls he's ever played with. I'm not sure about the weight but it didn't seem to take spin as well as in the past.

oh man.. is this one of those threads where NF will say that mass of the ball will change given it's speed?

one could tell from seing it on tv they were using Golf Balls:evil:...


why do you come up with this ideas?
 

dh003i

Legend
Nadal could play on ice courts as well. It doesn't make it right that they made this change at this point to suit Federer and big servers. I'm not too sure about the balls changing so much each year. This year was way faster though.

It isn't even clear that you've proven that they changed it on purpose.

I do agree that the court seemed faster this year, for sure.

But the weather was quite extreme this year, so you can't just conclude that the changes were because of purposeful things the tournament directors did.

IF it was done on-purpose, that would, imo, be fair play since Wimbledon was slowed down for many years. But I think that Wimbledon is supposed to be faster this year; hopefully, the FO will be slower next year, if it was due to their control.

I think someone proposed having more tournaments on clay and grass. I wouldn't be opposed to that. I think it should be 1/3rd HC, 1/3rd grass, 1/3rd clay. Although I can see the injury argument for getting rid of HC altogether. In any event, clay can be made to play fast; and "real" clay, not crushed brick, is a lot different from Roland Garros; for starters, on a true clay-court, there is no sliding.

Imo, if HC was ever done away with, a good setup would be:

AO: grass like the current Wimbledon: medium bouncing and medium paced

FO: slow, high-bouncing clay with crushed brick on top

Wimbledon: traditional fast low-bouncing

USO: true clay without a layer of crushed brick, medium bounce, medium-fast paced; because there'd be no crushed brick, there'd be no sliding.

PS: Supporting my suspicion that the weather was the main factor, I think you can compare the days leading up to he final and the final. At the men's final, the clay seemed to be playing not as fast as it was all week.
 
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I just don't like when my beloved clay courts don't play traditional to how a clay court should play like. This isn't just about Nadal. It's about ruining clay courts with more ball bashing that should only be apart of hardcourt tennis. :(

Rome is traditionnally faster than RG. Madrid had bad bounces it looks like it.
 
39 posts, not a single fact. This is the kind of conspiracy thread I should be used to. If anyone has any actual information about the courts being prepared differently or the balls being different on purpose, please post it. Otherwise, this is just a waste of time.
 

rod99

Professional
39 posts, not a single fact. This is the kind of conspiracy thread I should be used to. If anyone has any actual information about the courts being prepared differently or the balls being different on purpose, please post it. Otherwise, this is just a waste of time.

see my comment about the FFT listening to the french players. that is a fact.
 

egn

Hall of Fame
Windy. Not Humid. Very Dry. Slightly lighter balls. Any one of these alone would have not caused a problem but the problem was all four mixed together. It did not look like a hardcourt or Roddick and Murray would have been in the semis. It seemed more like Rome/Madrid clay conditions instead of Monte Carlo. Though the rain seemed to do something for the clay as the third set of the final saw it slow a bit in my opinion. It felt like Madrid but it was still slower than hardcourts not far slower than Miami or IW but still slower.
 

Nadal_Freak

Banned
39 posts, not a single fact. This is the kind of conspiracy thread I should be used to. If anyone has any actual information about the courts being prepared differently or the balls being different on purpose, please post it. Otherwise, this is just a waste of time.
Mcenroe plays in the doubles at the FO. He got a first hand experience of the balls. He said they are smaller and easier to crank. Also that these balls are one of the fastest he's played with. I would say that is very likely the case even though we have no knowledge of the manufacturers.
 

theduh

Semi-Pro
the french tennis federation generally asks the french players how they would like the court to play in order to help them. this is a fact. tsonga, simon, and monfils play better on faster surfaces and thus, the court this year reflected that.

see my comment about the FFT listening to the french players. that is a fact.

If you could produce an evidence (article, interview, etc) stating your claim then I would say it's a fact.
 

Tennis_Bum

Professional
Don't know. But J-Mac said the new balls were the fastest he's ever seen at the FO. Who knows if he was talking out of his ass?

You can't believe everything you hear coming out of JMac's mouth. The guy is so biased when he commenting tennis. But JMac will never approach the partiality of Mary Carrillo (sp).
 

Cup8489

G.O.A.T.
I've been hearing of the "grass" slowing down theory since 2006, when Nadal made it to the finals. I'm glad that the days of the boring serve fests are over (in the 90s); an unfortunate side-effect was that it also killed S & V in wimby.

i heard it as far back as '02 when hewitt won..and with nadal being successful there it's gotten even more prominent.
 

fortunecookiesjc

Professional
there were actually a remote control chip inside all of nadals playing balls and when needed to in a important play, a ball boy would sneakily remote it out.
 
D

Deleted member 21996

Guest
there were actually a remote control chip inside all of nadals playing balls and when needed to in a important play, a ball boy would sneakily remote it out.

quoted for truth.. and also the elevated all the city of Paris so Nadal would be disturbed by the change in the weight of the ball due to altitude (not the mass Nadal Freak)... bunch of conspirators... #$%"""$D"!#$"
 
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