AO vs USO -- which is the better HC GS?

O

objectivity

Banned
i genuinely think the standard of tennis is much higher at the AO than the USO. it isn't so much that the players aren't performing or even the court surface. but the problem lies entirely with Arthur Ashe stadium. the cavernous dimensions of the stadium create such ridiculous windy conditions that really lower the standard of play.
 
There are 20 courts being played on at the US Open. You mean to say windy conditions affect all 20 games???

Arthur Ashe is the biggest stadium; all players if given the choice would love to play there.

Blame NY weather for the windy conditions, not the stadium.

US OPEN >>>> Australian Open
 
Neither are my favorite but the AO is my least favorite slam of all of them. I hate the slower than slow courts there, and the atmosphere just feels off to me. If it were eliminated tomorrow I wouldn't miss it one bit.
 
EatMyForehand said:
There are 20 courts being played on at the US Open. You mean to say windy conditions affect all 20 games???

Arthur Ashe is the biggest stadium; all players if given the choice would love to play there.

Blame NY weather for the windy conditions, not the stadium.

US OPEN >>>> Australian Open
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In other words. "I am American!".
 
Problem is that they close the roof when it gets too hot. The whole point of playing in Aussie land is the necessity for conditioning. She is unforgiving and only the strongest should survive. However the roof took all of that away.

More and more we are headed for indoor tennis only, and that is not real tennis.

tennisjedi said:
AO, because it doesn't have a 5 set tiebreak.
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EatMyForehand said:
LOL.

I regularly play on the courts there when the Open is not in town, minus Ashe, Armstrong or Grandstand. By far, they are the best courts I've played on.
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I thought the purpose of the thread was to compare the Aus Open to the US Open ?? They maybe the best courts you have played on in New York or the world oh sorry the US, but how do they stack up v the courts in Melb ??

The only way to know is to have played on both.
 
objectivity said:
read this if you think the stadium has nothing to do with it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/09/sports/tennis/09wind.html?_r=0
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Agreed, it does effect the stadium. But as a whole (which is what I believe the tread is asking); looking at all aspects, I think US Open is better.

If the tread asked which stadium is better to play in (Ashe or Rod Laver) during their respective seasons, my vote wold probably go with RL.

But the external elements are also what makes these Grand Slams exciting and challenging, no?
 
EatMyForehand said:
Agreed, it does effect the stadium. But as a whole (which is what I believe the tread is asking); looking at all aspects, I think US Open is better.

If the tread asked which stadium is better to play in (Ashe or Rod Laver) during their respective seasons, my vote wold probably go with RL.

But the external elements are also what makes these Grand Slams exciting and challenging, no?
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erm in your earlier reply, you said EXPLICITLY that it has nothing to do with the stadium.

yes the main stadium has a tonne to do with the quality of the tournament, considering that all the showcase matches are played at the main stadium!
 
EatMyForehand said:
LOL.

I regularly play on the courts there when the Open is not in town, minus Ashe, Armstrong or Grandstand. By far, they are the best courts I've played on.
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I'm just kidding dude. The AO definately gained popularity over the years, since they moved the tournament to a new facility, changed the court colors, installed a roof on the two biggest courts etc.

I still prefer the USO. Yeah the weather sucks, but as you said the organizers can't be blamed for the wather. But they should definately be blamed for their crap arse schedulling.
 
AO. Although they had scheduling issues in 2009 and 2010, but they got much better since.

USO is just bad. Thy need to sort the roof, stadium and scheduling issues. Also 5th set TB makes is slightly lesser slam than the others.
 
objectivity said:
erm in your earlier reply, you said EXPLICITLY that it has nothing to do with the stadium.
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No I didn't...

I said "blame NY weather, not the stadium."

Followed by another response saying "Agreed, it (the wind) does effect the stadium."

And I still say the stadium is not to blame, the windy conditions in NY is the problem. Ashe encompasses that wind, but it's still the weather. If there is no wind, everything is great.


objectivity said:
yes the main stadium has a tonne to do with the quality of the tournament, considering that all the showcase matches are played at the main stadium!
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I can see your reasoning on this but I believe those elements are what always made tennis great and interesting.

If it wasn't, we wouldn't be talking about Rafa beating Djoker in windy conditions, or Fed winning indoors, or Murray controlling the game against Fed in first set outdoors in wimby to lose once the roof and all the elements are removed.
 
jackson vile said:
Problem is that they close the roof when it gets too hot. The whole point of playing in Aussie land is the necessity for conditioning. She is unforgiving and only the strongest should survive. However the roof took all of that away.

More and more we are headed for indoor tennis only, and that is not real tennis.
Click to expand...

Agreed with everything you said.
 
US used to be better - but now?

The Australian Open has been, since 2008, the other slow court slam - being nearly as slow as Roland Garros. I used to prefer the US Open because you saw more attacking all court tennis, when it is was faster. But now the US Open has been slowed down so much - it is now very similar to the AO. For both the AO and the USO defensive back of the court, grinding tennis is rewarded rather than attacking all court play. Such a great shame.

So now - it is good to see both the tournaments because I am a tennis fan....but it is such a shame that slow court tennis has won the day so completely with both of them.
 
AO. Despite being the least prestigious HC slam is better because it actually focusses on tennis unlike the USO where tv scheduling and money are deemed more important then the sport itself.
 
I think the Australian Open has more class than the US OPEN. I don't like the extravagant attitude of the Americans their stupid things like a ceremony, the American flag LOL! It is just TOO MUCH!
 
Australian Open by far.

The AO tournament organisers care more about the players than those USO clowns.
 
In terms of court speed - the AO is too slow. Don't we have enough slow courts?

The USO is the second-oldest tennis tournament on the planet, so there is no comparison in terms of legacy and prestige.
 
US Open night matches have an epic feel with mountains of spectators (and their noises) surrounding the centre court. It is something that our Laver stadium doesn't quite have, the AO stadium is almost too clean and ordered (just my personal view).
epic.jpg
 
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Indoor tennis blows so by that measure alone the USO is the best.

However, AA is the worst tennis stadium on planet Earth though there may be worse stadiums in other parts of the universe that we are not aware of.
 
The_Begum_of_Bhopal said:
AO. Despite being the least prestigious HC slam is better because it actually focusses on tennis unlike the USO where tv scheduling and money are deemed more important then the sport itself.
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Huh? Longer history, bigger stadium, more enthusiastic audience mean the tennis is better. If you are complaining about the timing of night matches, then I'd remind you that there are always some people working at night.
 
moonballs said:
Huh? Longer history, bigger stadium, more enthusiastic audience mean the tennis is better. If you are complaining about the timing of night matches, then I'd remind you that there are always some people working at night.
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No, better players produce better tennis, irrespective of history or location.

Say the top 10 players all skipped the USO, would it still produce the better tennis just because of a raucous crowd??
 
Incidentally, this "what's your favorite flavor of ice cream" comes up during every Major event.

People seem to be pretty passionate about their favorite flavor.
 
I like which ever one produces the better matches in any given year. I dont care about roofs or stadiums or slow courts or fast courts. Some years I like the aussie open better and vice versa. I know which one I like least and thats the french. But thats only because I am tired of the clay court season and Nadal winning everything by that time.
 
Tennis at the AO does feel new and refreshing because we watch it after a long winter break. In reality it is mostly slow and repetitive (compared to Wimbledon-WTF part of the year).
 
I still say the USO, but the gap has definitely closed in recent years. Australia used to be a second-tier slam (for lack of a better term), but the modern era has more or less equalized the slams. Obviously, Wimbledon is still the slam, but after that, I think there is a lot more variety in what people would pick than there used to be.
 
insideguy said:
I like which ever one produces the better matches in any given year. I dont care about roofs or stadiums or slow courts or fast courts. Some years I like the aussie open better and vice versa. I know which one I like least and thats the french. But thats only because I am tired of the clay court season and Nadal winning everything by that time.
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When the French Open rolls around, I watch hoping someone will be able to take the championship from Nadal.

I like Nadal, but it gets boring every year seeing the same person win over and over again.
 
Netspirit said:
Tennis at the AO does feel new and refreshing because we watch it after a long winter break. In reality it is mostly slow and repetitive (compared to Wimbledon-WTF part of the year).
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ok... even if i grant you that, i think in the last few years, the AO has definitely had the lion share of iconic / exciting matches... AO 2012 final, AO 2009 semi, AO 2012 semi, djokovic vs stan 2013, AO 2009 final etc etc.
 
AO Open.

Advantage 5th set and a roof which means you are at least going to get some tennis when it rains.
 
EatMyForehand said:
When the French Open rolls around, I watch hoping someone will be able to take the championship from Nadal.

I like Nadal, but it gets boring every year seeing the same person win over and over again.
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I dont mind him winning. It was nice to see joker making him work this year. But other than soderling beating him that one year no one really seems to even make the guy sweat. Him winning isnt boring to me. But him just walking through draw after draw after draw. Thats boring. I just wish some young guy would step up and at least make things interesting.
 
AO is my favorite slam, although I really wish they'd never switched from rebound ace.

I like the whole inverted time zone/weather aspect. Nothing like being up at 2:30 AM over here in the winter while it's late afternoon or early evening over there and sweltering hot.
 
The easiest way to judge the prestiege of a slam is to look at the players who have won. When you do so it becomes clear that Wimbledon and the US Open are streets ahead of the Aust Open and Roland Garros in status.

Granted the Aust Open has grown in status through the nineties and beyond. Roland Garros has often been won by players who are not considered to be great champions of the game ( obviously Borg and nadal withstanding)

This is yet another reason why Sampras and Federer are such great players - they dominated the two most prestigous grand slams.

Food for thought.
 
objectivity said:
ok... even if i grant you that, i think in the last few years, the AO has definitely had the lion share of iconic / exciting matches... AO 2012 final, AO 2009 semi, AO 2012 semi, djokovic vs stan 2013, AO 2009 final etc etc.
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I totally agree. Since 09 AO is more interesting for me. The bright blue court also looks at lot more vivd than the grey blue and green court (kind of like a blur) on the screen. The players are also wearing more colorful clothing usually.

AO got the roof. A big plus.

It is also more exciting as it is the new season, and many uses a new PJ if there is one for the year, etc.
 
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