Sometimes you hear people saying 90s "faster" (in reality it was more "polarized", not just "faster") conditions benefited players like Becker, Sampras, Ivanisevic, Krajicek, Stich, Philippoussis.....
Actually during the 90s (and earlier) there was all kind of variation in court speed, balls, styles...it benefited no one, or just it allowed many different players to have chances to win.
Not only grass was "faster", "lower bouncing". Even inside hard courts, there was a whole lot of variation in bounce, skidness, speed in type of hard courts, and in type of balls. There were outdoor hard courts tournaments that were extremly slow, others just slow, others medium, others were fast, and some others were extremely fast.
Also, not all indoor carpet were fast and low-bouncing, there was (especially since 1994 on) all kind of variation in court speed and bounce of indoor carpet tournaments (and balls used). Some years Paris-Bercy was that slow that some players complained about it being THAT slow (years as 1994, 1995, 1996 or 1997) when some players started to call it "the little Roland Garros". Of course other indoor carpet tournaments, like Milan, were extremely fast.
There was also indoor hard that again could vary hugely from tournament to tournament (or even the same tournament in different years).
So it really benefited "no one", or equally said, many many more different players had chances to win some tournaments here and there.
Also, some people seem to think during the 90s there was only serve-and-volley tennis. Completely untrue.
There were all kind of tennis styles, all kind of variation, a lot of serve-and-volley on grass, baseline tennis was the majority of tennis in general during the 90s, all-court tennis in players like Becker, Sampras, Stich, and some others, Serve-and-volley almost everywhere only in players like Edberg, Rafter and very few more.
As I said, even on indoor carpet tournaments, those that were not that fast (and there were many of these too), the majority of tennis there, was baseline tennis and/or all-court tennis.
Two examples of Paris-Bercy:
In 1997 when some players complained about it being too slow and like a "little Roland Garros"
and 1999 when it was medium-fast (but still far slower than other indoor carpet tournaments)
Actually during the 90s (and earlier) there was all kind of variation in court speed, balls, styles...it benefited no one, or just it allowed many different players to have chances to win.
Not only grass was "faster", "lower bouncing". Even inside hard courts, there was a whole lot of variation in bounce, skidness, speed in type of hard courts, and in type of balls. There were outdoor hard courts tournaments that were extremly slow, others just slow, others medium, others were fast, and some others were extremely fast.
Also, not all indoor carpet were fast and low-bouncing, there was (especially since 1994 on) all kind of variation in court speed and bounce of indoor carpet tournaments (and balls used). Some years Paris-Bercy was that slow that some players complained about it being THAT slow (years as 1994, 1995, 1996 or 1997) when some players started to call it "the little Roland Garros". Of course other indoor carpet tournaments, like Milan, were extremely fast.
There was also indoor hard that again could vary hugely from tournament to tournament (or even the same tournament in different years).
So it really benefited "no one", or equally said, many many more different players had chances to win some tournaments here and there.
Also, some people seem to think during the 90s there was only serve-and-volley tennis. Completely untrue.
There were all kind of tennis styles, all kind of variation, a lot of serve-and-volley on grass, baseline tennis was the majority of tennis in general during the 90s, all-court tennis in players like Becker, Sampras, Stich, and some others, Serve-and-volley almost everywhere only in players like Edberg, Rafter and very few more.
As I said, even on indoor carpet tournaments, those that were not that fast (and there were many of these too), the majority of tennis there, was baseline tennis and/or all-court tennis.
Two examples of Paris-Bercy:
In 1997 when some players complained about it being too slow and like a "little Roland Garros"
and 1999 when it was medium-fast (but still far slower than other indoor carpet tournaments)
