am I only person who enjoys slow courts as much as the other?

[djoker of darkness]

Hi this is my first post ever on this forum, as you can tell from my rather lame username im a huge novak fan but I enjoy watching nadal and fed as well. Anyway getting to the point I was at the o2 in wednesday to watch djokovic play and honestly I love slow courts, instead of seeing who can ballbash the other off the court the players have to construct points wisely this is why djoker and fed are so good on slow courts imho as they turn defence into attack with a swing of a racket and pick their moments. I have been to all 4 majors live and I can tell you aussie and french open are not much faster than this from a personal view so basically why all the hate about this surface?

 

[thomasferrett]

Nope, I love slow court tennis too. Love grinding, physical tennis, and rec players can learn much more from the consistency of these guy's technique rather than watching ballbashing.

In my opinion, it is kind of a cop-out to mindlessly rush the net after every serve - your right to close in on the net is earned by the meat-and-potatoes of the game - that is by grinding your opponent down from the baseline until he can't help but cough up a short ball, which you then close the net in on.

 

[Bartelby]

How is slow court tennis good if it's about waiting for the short ball?

Surely the attacking shot should get rewarded, rather than tracked down easily.

 

[Mr.Snrub]

In my opinion, it is kind of a cop-out to mindlessly rush the net after every serve - your right to close in on the net is earned by the meat-and-potatoes of the game - that is by grinding your opponent down from the baseline until he can't help but cough up a short ball, which you then close the net in on.

Ban. Try rushing the net "mindlessly" after any random serve in the age of poly strings and see what happens

 

[torpantennis]

The problem is, indoors should historically be one of the fastest conditions, but now it isn't. Basel sure is fast, but not Bercy/WTF.

We need variety in court speeds, not ONLY fast or only slow courts.

 

[djoker of darkness]

But bartelby why should the attacking shot be rewarded if the other player runs it down and returns it with interest like say novak does? This is why I prefer slow courts as someone who plays tennis a lot you just learn more from it imho than the fast courts. I like fast courts just as much btw im not ****ging them off but the amount of hate ive saw for slow courts is surprising

 

[Zoid]

Hi this is my first post ever on this forum, as you can tell from my rather lame username im a huge novak fan but I enjoy watching nadal and fed as well. Anyway getting to the point I was at the o2 in wednesday to watch djokovic play and honestly I love slow courts, instead of seeing who can ballbash the other off the court the players have to construct points wisely this is why djoker and fed are so good on slow courts imho as they turn defence into attack with a swing of a racket and pick their moments. I have been to all 4 majors live and I can tell you aussie and french open are not much faster than this from a personal view so basically why all the hate about this surface?

I think there is a place for slow courts absolutely. The problem right now is the slowing of ALL surfaces across the entire ATP calendar of the last decade - including wimbledon!

The WTF is indoor hard and should therefore play at a traditional indoor pace which favours attacking tennis. Go back and watch Fed - Nalbandian in 05, i think that indoor carpet surface played really well and made for exciting, attacking tennis. The rallies are still quite taxing at times, but yo get a little more purchase/reward for attacking tennis and it promotes more net approaches, slices/variety which all complement the game IMO.

What tennis does not need now is the exact same style of tennis, from the exact same players, 52 weeks of the year. As a tennis fan, you should want to see players adapt their game to various opponents/styles and surfaces. This is what tennis needs.

I think Shanghai got it right, that pace and bounce was good. I think it was fantastic to see that attacking play could get rewarded. Watching Lopez and Fed promote that style was very refreshing and i think there was a good balance. If Novak played 2-5% better you have a vey exciting 3 set final on your hands with two very contrasting styles!

 

[Bartelby]

But it's the slow court that enables the attacking ball to be run down, just like it is poly strings that have almost completely ended the serve-volley strategy.

I like to see a ball tracked down as well, but not when the court is the main player.

But bartelby why should the attacking shot be rewarded if the other player runs it down and returns it with interest like say novak does? This is why I prefer slow courts as someone who plays tennis a lot you just learn more from it imho than the fast courts. I like fast courts just as much btw im not ****ging them off but the amount of hate ive saw for slow courts is surprising

 

[jg153040]

Hi this is my first post ever on this forum, as you can tell from my rather lame username im a huge novak fan but I enjoy watching nadal and fed as well. Anyway getting to the point I was at the o2 in wednesday to watch djokovic play and honestly I love slow courts, instead of seeing who can ballbash the other off the court the players have to construct points wisely this is why djoker and fed are so good on slow courts imho as they turn defence into attack with a swing of a racket and pick their moments. I have been to all 4 majors live and I can tell you aussie and french open are not much faster than this from a personal view so basically why all the hate about this surface?

I love them too. But, what I really love is balance. I hate if all courts are slow, like today. I also don't like if all courts are fast. Balance is the key.

Also it's not just courts getting slower, balls are getting slower too.

But, if you love slow courts, then this era is perfect for you and you can have the most fun today. So, you are lucky.

 

[Tennis_Hands]

I like slow court tennis.

Just not all the time.

 

[thomasferrett]

I love them too. But, what I really love is balance. I hate if all courts are slow, like today. I also don't like if all courts are fast. Balance is the key.

Also it's not just courts getting slower, balls are getting slower too.

But, if you love slow courts, then this era is perfect for you and you can have the most fun today. So, you are lucky.

I hear what you're saying, but personally, I like slow court tennis and don't like the first-strike style fast court tennis at all.

I'd rather the tour be 'unbalanced' and heavily favoring the slow courts (exclusively if possible), but that's just me.

Just love the grinding topspin rallies and incredible steady baseline consistency. I also love 1hbh and they do best on a slow court.

 

[SpinToWin]

I prefer fast courts tbh, but the best is a balance of both, which currently, quite frankly, is not the case.

 

[timnz]

The problem is...

There is no problem with having slow courts. The problem is not having other kinds of courts (or hardly any other kind). We miss out on so much by not having a variety anymore. Basically the first 1/2 of the year is 95% slow courts and the second half of the year is medium (to slow) paced. Fast court tennis doesn't exist at all anymore. Now it is totally fine if you prefer slow court tennis, but what about those of us who want variety?

 

[President]

I prefer slow court tennis to fast court tennis if you put a gun to my head, but ideally there would be some more variety. Even I get irritated watching the same stuff at every tournament.

 

[dlk]

I enjoy a balance. I prefer an equal distribution of fast/slow & in-between. I do enjoy the clay courts and their long rallies.

 

[jg153040]

I hear what you're saying, but personally, I like slow court tennis and don't like the first-strike style fast court tennis at all.

I'd rather the tour be 'unbalanced' and heavily favoring the slow courts (exclusively if possible), but that's just me.

Just love the grinding topspin rallies and incredible steady baseline consistency. I also love 1hbh and they do best on a slow court.

But it's already very unbalanced. Slow court experts are dominating the tour.

So, you should already be happy. But, I guess you want even more extreme, I see what you mean.

But that also has a price. Let's say every match is like AO 12 final. You would need to watch 6 hours every match. Time consuming. Also players would get injured all the time and short careers.

But, then this wouldn't be tennis anymore, it would be a different sport based only on fitness.

 

[Deleted member 307496]

Slow court tennis is entertaining in its own right, but I prefer the faster surfaces.