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Andreeva reveals an interesting detail about the speed of the courts at the 2025 Australian Open
It took Mirra Andreeva more than expected to defeat Uchiyama at the Australian Open 2025 and advance to the third round, where she will face Magdalena Frech. H...


'Balls are heavy, courts are slow': Are the conditions to blame for Pegula's Australian Open loss?
When Pegula lost Friday, she complained of slow conditions on the court. Sabalenka has noted it as well -- but not everyone feels that way.
We had Pegula and Andreeva talking about how the stadium courts are much slower than the outside courts especially in the cooler night, Pegula and Sabalenka are also saying that the balls are heavy. Pegula even said it is like playing on a clay court. I think the difference is more in cooler years.
On the men‘s side who does it favor in the second week when most of the late-round matches will be in one of the stadium courts and the marquee matches with star players will be in the cooler night? The star guys in each half like Djokovic, Alcaraz and Sinner are all playing only on the big covered courts and mostly at night - so they should be more acclimated to the slow conditions over the lower seeds who are also playing more on the outside courts. I wonder if the guys who do well on the slow hard court at Indian Wells will be the ones who do well at the AO next week.
Who will this favor in the second week? Top draw - Sinner vs Rune, Michelsen vs DeMinaur, Monfils vs Shelton, Sonego vs Tien. Bottom draw - Djokovic vs Lehecka, Draper vs Alcaraz, ADF vs Paul, Humbert vs Zverev?
Who likes slow conditions and heavy balls? Alcaraz for sure and maybe this is an advantage for him against Djokovic in a possible QF. If Sinner gets through Rune, there are no stars left in his side of the draw and he should coast to the final. DeMinaur and Monfils might like the slower conditions better against the Americans Michelsen and Shelton. Monfils might make it to the semifinal against Sinner if he faces the winner of Sonego/Tien in the QF. Lehecka’s serve might be neutralized and he might be an easier opponent for Djokovic. Paul is not a big hitter and this might not be as big a problem against ADF or even Zverev at night - he made the semi in 2023 when players were also complaining about the heavy balls. Will Humbert put up a bigger fight than you would expect against Zverev if Zverev‘s serve is not as big?
Will it be Sinner-ADM, Monfils-Sonego/Tien, Djokovic-Alcaraz, Paul-Zverev in the QFs? Maybe Sinner-Monfils and Alcaraz-Paul in the semis? Sinner-Alcaraz final? Will this favor Zverev who likes to play passively or will it blunt his serve too much? Better chance for Alcaraz to prevail again against Sinner like he did in Beijing, Roland Garros and Indian Wells last year? If Djokovic magically transforms into the 2023 version or the 2024 Olympic version and finds a way to beat a better-serving Alcaraz, I’m starting to think that betting on him to win the title might not be a far-fetched bet.
What do you guys think?
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