Did Craig Tiley's plan backfire big time ?

[terribleIVAN]

Tiley's plan was to dramatically increase the speed of the court in order to allow the 2 aging tennis cash cows (Roger and Serena) to finally win their much desired career defining slam.

Instead, Serena flopped in the semis, and injured Novak still schooled everybody else, while Fed broke his return promise.

Novak adds to his slam tally, as nobody has a clue how to play on fast hard.

 

[aldeayeah]

I mean 6 out of the 8 top seeds made the quarterfinals, so I'm not sure it made much of a difference other than maybe beneffiting the Djokovic/Meds a bit over the Nadal/Thiems of the world.

 

[Gazelle]

If courts had remained slow result would have been the same.

Tileys plan was to make money, if he did so his plan succeded.

 

[merwy]

Not really. The court speed is irrelevant for the men’s tournament. Fed didn’t play so he couldn’t win and Djokovic would’ve won just as easily if the court speed was slow. Also don’t see how making the courts slower would’ve given Serena a better chance. Not sure what your point is.

 

[Harry_Wild]

In regard to Serena: Faster courts better for Serena serve and ground strokes. Harder for Serena to chase the balls down.

 

[Moose Malloy]

If courts had remained slow result would have been the same.

Tileys plan was to make money, if he did so his plan succeded.

Not exactly.

Aussie Open projects financial hit topping $78M

The Australian Open is expecting a loss of more than $78 million for this year's tournament, due to factors including lost revenue from ticket sales and the cost of coronavirus protocols.

www.espn.com

 

[RiverRat]

I would be interested in a source where an official talks about the reason for making the change. The science of court surfacing prevents any surprises from occurring these days. Are players forewarned or notified in advance of the tournament? Does the contractor disclose what surface speed is being installed? It just amazes me that the players arrive at a major and appear to be speculating on the speed of the surface. In golf there is a stimp meter to measure the speed of greens. What about tennis?

 

[diggler]

I don't think the court speed was intentional. The extra play on the court may have sped it up if at all.

How Fast Are Those Australian Open Courts? Does It Matter? (Published 2021)

Players are calling this the fastest Grand Slam tennis court they have played on. Technicians say the speed hasn’t changed. Who is right?

www.nytimes.com

 

[Tshooter]

Not exactly.

Aussie Open projects financial hit topping $78M

The Australian Open is expecting a loss of more than $78 million for this year's tournament, due to factors including lost revenue from ticket sales and the cost of coronavirus protocols.

www.espn.com

Tiley’s lessons learned seem a bit off:

“Tiley said this year's running of the Australian Open is proof that international sporting events can continue as the world battles to contain COVID-19.”

Seems more like evidence they can’t continue w/o massive losses.

“Maybe there's a way for us to get sports and entertainment up and going again; we've got the model and we've learned a lot."

They’ve got a model for how to lose a lot of money.

I think the USTA said 2020 USO would only happen if it made financial sense. It would be interesting to deep dive the two financials to learn why and how one lost $78 million and the other presumably at least broke even if not turned a profit. I kinda recall USO had structured its broadcast agreements to even out revenue so 2020 broadcast revenue would not have taken such a hit if ratings fell but they’ll receive less broadcast revenue than otherwise in future years. So that helped 2020 numbers a lot. Also, my sense is TA spent way more for pandemic protocols.

 

[BeatlesFan]

Novak still schooled everybody else, while Fed broke his return promise.

Go ahead and continue inventing whatever tickles your fancy because Fed never promised Tiley (or anyone) that he would play the AO. This is what Fed actually said back in December:

"I would have hoped that I would be at 100 percent by October. But I still am not 100% today. It will be tight for the Australian Open. I wish I was further along, but at the same time I'm satisfied with where I am at the moment."

https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_...lay-australian-open-says-knee-not-100-percent

Next time invent that Federer won Wimbledon 2019, that works for most of us.

 

[Tshooter]

Not really. The court speed is irrelevant for the men’s tournament. Fed didn’t play so he couldn’t win and Djokovic would’ve won just as easily if the court speed was slow. Also don’t see how making the courts slower would’ve given Serena a better chance. Not sure what your point is.

But court speed is critical on TTW. It forms the basis for conspiracy theories involving nefarious forces out to hose whichever player you want to win but doesn’t. In reality the year to year changes in court speed mean diddly.

 

[tennis tom]

You can rub your hand over the court and can feel how much sand is in the mix. You hit a few balls and can tell how fast or slow it is. How many coats of surface material is put down also determines the speed of the court.

 

[tonylg]

Who here gets to play on courts that are resurfaced regularly?

When modern hard courts are new, they are like 40 grit sandpaper. Each time the ball bounces on them, the court tears at the felt leaving a massive yellow skid mark. That takes energy away and makes the court play slower.

That lasts a few weeks until the sharp edges are worn off the surface and play gets faster. When an entire facility is resurfaced for a majoy tourney, it starts off slow and gets faster. The courts with the most use speed up the most, hence people saying outside courts play faster.

The AO courts hosted quarantine practice and half a dozen warm up tournaments this year. Usually they would be fresh for the Open. Hence, they played a little less slow ... but they sure AF weren't fast.

 

[RiverRat]

The AO courts hosted quarantine practice and half a dozen warm up tournaments this year. Usually they would be fresh for the Open. Hence, they played a little less slow ... but they sure AF weren't fast.

I think @socallefty posted an article in another thread where the biggest tournaments were tested and the AO scored a 4 out of a possible 5 for being fast. No tournament scored a 5, so if the AO isn't fast, nothing is.

 

[tonylg]

I think @socallefty posted an article in another thread where the biggest tournaments were tested and the AO scored a 4 out of a possible 5 for being fast. No tournament scored a 5, so if the AO isn't fast, nothing is.

I think it's pretty obvious that no tournament is fast these days. Modern players would pee their pants. Can you just imagine Thiem on a fast court?

 

[socallefty]

I think @socallefty posted an article in another thread where the biggest tournaments were tested and the AO scored a 4 out of a possible 5 for being fast. No tournament scored a 5, so if the AO isn't fast, nothing is.

I think that AO speed was from a year ago and by all accounts the court was even faster this year.

It seemed like they made a favorable draw for Barty and that still didn’t result in a home-grown champion.

 

[Tshooter]

I think that AO speed was from a year ago and by all accounts the court was even faster this year.

It seemed like they made a favorable draw for Barry and that still didn’t result in a home-grown champion.

I don’t know who “Barry“ is but I’m more interested in how your JFK investigation is coming along.

 

[tonylg]

I don’t know who “Barry“ is but I’m more interested in how your JFK investigation is coming along.

Should concentrate on the latter. It's far more likely that the CIA organised JFK than it is the AO draw is rigged.

 

[aldeayeah]

I think it's pretty obvious that no tournament is fast these days. Modern players would pee their pants. Can you just imagine Thiem on a fast court?

I mean, if nobody punishes his way-back defensive rally position with volleying, drop shots, flat penetrating shots, short angles, or plain old point construction, he'll be just fine firing cannons back from Kansas.

When everyone plays the baseline spin game everywhere, the guy with arguably the best spin groundies is in a good place.

 

[tonylg]

I mean, if nobody punishes his way-back defensive rally position with volleying, drop shots, flat penetrating shots, short angles, or plain old point construction, he'll be just fine firing cannons back from Kansas.

Tim can actually volley moderately well, he just has no ambition (nor tools) to actually get there.

 

[octobrina10]

Go ahead and continue inventing whatever tickles your fancy because Fed never promised Tiley (or anyone) that he would play the AO. This is what Fed actually said back in December:

"I would have hoped that I would be at 100 percent by October. But I still am not 100% today. It will be tight for the Australian Open. I wish I was further along, but at the same time I'm satisfied with where I am at the moment."

https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_...lay-australian-open-says-knee-not-100-percent

Next time invent that Federer won Wimbledon 2019, that works for most of us.

Hmm. In the middle of January, you wrote that Fed skipped the 2021 AO, because he "is a devoted husband and family man", and he chose not to participate in the AO, because he didn't like the quarantine conditions before the AO.
Post #15:

https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/index.php?threads/roger-federer-reportedly-to-return-in-doha-march-8.688954/#post-14967863

Post #53:

https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/index.php?threads/djokovic-makes-demands-to-tiley-re-player-conditions.688734/page-2#post-14960465

Which is the true reason?