Federer: "Clay is not slow. It is mostly faster than hardcourts these days, people don't understand"

[TennisFan3]

Presser after Cillic Match:

Federer says verbatim: "People still think clay is slow - it is NOT slow. It is mostly faster than hardcourts these days unless you go to Cincy and Shanghai potentially or a couple of Indoor events. People don't understand this."

So much for the TTW theory of clay being a slow surface.

And also the warmer it is, the faster the clay gets, as Federer says.

 

[TheNachoMan]

His fans will try to explain to him why they know better than he does. lol

 

[TennisFan3]

His fans will try to explain to him why they know better than he does. lol

All this talk about clay being super slow is just by Fed fans who believe Novak and Nadal are useless on faster courts.

 

[clayqueen]

 

[ohiostate124]

Really tells you how much they’ve slowed down hard courts.

 

[Deleted member 748597]

He's also playing better than ever now.

 

[TennisFan3]

Really tells you how much they’ve slowed down hard courts.

Exactly. Clay is FASTER than hadcourts. Wow.

 

[Deleted member 748597]

His fans will try to explain to him why they know better than he does. lol

Federer is a clueless troll who watched very little tennis.

 

[TennisFan3]

So the theory that Nadal only likes slow courts, it out of the window.

 

[lordlosh]

Oh the first 3 posters can't even understand what he is trying to say.
Yeah exactly. This is exactly what he wanted to say, but not direct.
USO is a joke of the court once was.

 

[clayqueen]

So the theory that Nadal only likes slow courts, it out of the window.

The theory never existed.

 

[Backspin1183]

Presser after Cillic Match:

Federer says: "People still think clay is slow - it is NOT slow. It is mostly faster than hardcourts these days unless you go to Cincy and Shanghai potentially or a couple of Indoor events. My fans don't understand this."

So much for the TTW theory of slow surfaces.

FIFY

 

[TennisFan3]

The theory never existed.

Well Fed fans claim this. Basically saying Nadal can only play on slow courts.

 

[TennisFan3]

FIFY

LOL - True.

 

[Deleted member 748597]

Federer is just being a propagandist now.

 

[Krish872007]

Federer agreeing with StrongRule that RG is basically a "red" version of the AO.

 

[TennisFan3]

Federer agreeing with StrongRule that RG is basically a "red" version of the AO.

For once @StrongRule is validated.

 

[Le Master]

His fans will try to explain to him why they know better than he does. lol

While I am inclined to take him for his word and thought his comments on the speed were really informing, he still could in fact be wrong, and the conditions could just feel that way to him. The technology is set up on these courts that monitors shot speed, bounce height, etc that would give us the data that tells us which courts are fastest.

 

[Europa1]

Presser after Cillic Match:

Federer says: "People still think clay is slow - it is NOT slow. It is mostly faster than hardcourts these days unless you go to Cincy and Shanghai potentially or a couple of Indoor events. People don't understand this."

So much for the TTW theory of clay being a slow surface.

And also the warmer it is, the faster the clay gets, as Federer says.

And so much for hard courts being fast. They used to be, until Federer's dominance started boring people.

 

[Krish872007]

For once @StrongRule is validated.

StrongRule is Federer.

 

[TearTheRoofOff]

His fans will try to explain to him why they know better than he does. lol

I assume this is based on the fact that they tend to take such a stance when he says he thinks he'd beat his peak self who was flying all over the court blasting forehand winners everywhere. Not sure the lampoon really works all that well tbh.

 

[Deleted member 762343]

Exactly. Clay is FASTER than hadcourts. Wow.

That’s not what he said.

 

[Martin J]

Well Fed fans claim this. Basically saying Nadal can only play on slow courts.

Don't know who those fans are, but Nadal certainly doesn't enjoy the slow/dead courts. His struggles in Australia and Miami prove it. Even at Hamburg he wasn't as impressive due to lower bounce/slower court.
Clay can play quite fast and is a lively surface if you hit with a lot of pace and spin, but not many players have the skills to take this advantage the red dirt offers.

 

[Nostradamus]

Presser after Cillic Match:

Federer says: "People still think clay is slow - it is NOT slow. It is mostly faster than hardcourts these days unless you go to Cincy and Shanghai potentially or a couple of Indoor events. People don't understand this."

So much for the TTW theory of clay being a slow surface.

And also the warmer it is, the faster the clay gets, as Federer says.

he's saying that cause Balls this year is so fast, it seem fast this year. Frenchees did that to make it easier for Federer to do well

 

[Gerco]

Remember Madrid´s blue clay? Hahaha.. anyway, he also said that rallies in Doha were longer, another way to say hardcourts are slow.

 

[Backspin1183]

Federer is just being a propagandist now.

I'm not really surprised. Federer is a Nadal fan. He even claimed to be Nadal's number one fan (Octobrina still ahead of Fed IMO) at one point.

 

[catskillthunder]

Federer is a clueless troll who watched very little tennis.

Federer is clearly not on the TWW forums. He needs to get a clue

 

[TennisFan3]

he's saying that cause Balls this year is so fast, it seem fast this year. Frenchees did that to make it easier for Federer to do well

Not really. He makes no reference to balls.
He is saying clay is faster than most hardcourts these days and even faster when it's warmer.

 

[Nostradamus]

Not really. He makes no reference to balls.
He is saying clay is faster than most hardcourts these days and even faster when it's warmer.

yea but what he really meant was Balls are fast. Clay is SAME clay dude, made of SAME brick dust clay, no change there, Frenchees said they made NO change to the clay, just changed the balls. also very hot conditions make it fast too

 

[TennisFan3]

yea but what he really meant was Balls are fast. Clay is SAME clay dude, made of SAME brick dust clay, no change there, Frenchees said they made NO change to the clay, just changed the balls. also very hot conditions make it fast too

So now you think you know how Federer thinks? This is pure guesswork and conjecture. He never related the surface speed to the balls.

 

[mattennis]

He's saying that most hard courts are extremely slow in this era.

 

[mike danny]

I'm not really surprised. Federer is a Nadal fan. He even claimed to be Nadal's number one fan (Octobrina still ahead of Fed IMO) at one point.

Berdych is ahead of Fed still.

*Warrior on fire*.

 

[Rosstour]

The real message is, "don't count me out here."

And I think he realizes that his chances here are better now than they have been in some time. Otherwise he'd not be playing here.

 

[Backspin1183]

Berdych is ahead of Fed still.

*Warrior on fire*.

Oh right! He was proudly cheering for Rafa from his Twitter handle not long ago

 

[Mustard]

I can remember all the way back in 2009 when Federer was saying after 2009 Miami, after smashing some racquets, that he was sick of hardcourts and couldn't wait to get on the clay.

 

[mike danny]

Not gonna lie, AO 2010-2012 did feel slower than clay.

 

[GhostOfNKDM]

Really tells you how much they’ve slowed down hard courts.

This is the right answer.

If clay hasn't changed and its 'fast' to someone like Roger compared to other surfaces on tour today that have been changed, then the only logical conclusion is that they've been slowed down.

This wasn't so before the early 2000s. Clay was historically the slowest surface on tour.

 

[Hitman]

I can remember all the way back in 2009 when Federer was saying after 2009 Miami, after smashing some racquets, that he was sick of hardcourts and couldn't wait to get on the clay.

Yep, and then when onto win Madrid and RG back to back. He was onto something.

 

[PilotPete]

They had to slow the HCs to clay levels to allow Djokodal to compete with Federer.

 

[GhostOfNKDM]

Djokovic is actually good on medium fast surfaces. (Grass is med fast now and that's a whole different story)

It's Nadal who couldn't have won a USO in any other era.

 

[stringertom]

fedr just stating the obvious, which most here don’t want to hear...the same clay court in different conditions can play very slow or it can play very fast. RG’20 was molasses slow due to October weather and the shorter daylight hours. RG’21 is playing faster with the blessing of warmer and DRYER weather and longer daylight hours. If it gets too fast they can adjust how long they sprinkle the courts between matches and how much they roll the courts overnight.

I’ve played on Florida clay courts in tournaments during the summer and the difference between 8am and 11am conditions is mind blowing, especially when the club relies on exterior sprinklers instead of irrigation from below the surface (HydroGrid).

HCs remain consistent because the grit amount cannot be adjusted until the court is resurfaced or it’s worn down by excessive amount of play. This is why many of the field courts at AO and USO that are used for qualies matches play faster than the show courts.

 

[swordtennis]

Not really new news.
It is usually medium fast high bounce.
Fed stated in interview with Jim Courier he feels Paris is playing fast this year.
Wimbledon is perfect balance.

 

[Bartelby]

The way that they scientifically test court speed, which doesn't take all the real-world factors into account, does show clay to be on the slow side.

The last version of that approach that I saw had the USO languishing behind both the FO and Wimbledon with the AO faster.

It seems to be easier to tweak clay, from what I read above, than changing grass variety or resurfacing.

 

[FRV4]

Thank you Federer, for the knowledge!

 

[The Blond Blur]

Djokovic is actually good on medium fast surfaces. (Grass is med fast now and that's a whole different story)

It's Nadal who couldn't have won a USO in any other era.

Lol no. The 2010 USO proved that that is not the case.

Date	Name	Surface	Speed
29-08-2005	US Open	Hard	63

30-08-2010

US Open

Hard

65

He also pushed prime Ol’ Rog to 5 at Wimby in 07 and then beat him in 08.

 

[TennisIcon]

But some people here were laughing when Medvedev compared it to the AO. Funny how the tune changes when both Federer and Nadal confirm this as well.

 

[40-15 still haunts me]

Federer is clearly not on the TWW forums. He needs to get a clue

If Federer was on here he would have 5,000 slams and 20,000 masters 1000 tournaments, the amount of experts on here is enough to make anyone the GOAT

 

[mike danny]

Lol no. The 2010 USO proved that that is not the case.

Date	Name	Surface	Speed
29-08-2005	US Open	Hard	63

30-08-2010

US Open

Hard

65

He also pushed prime Ol’ Rog to 5 at Wimby in 07 and then beat him in 08.

Where did you get these?

 

[Beckerserve]

MIND GAMES MIND GAMES have begun like i predicted.
Roger definitely trying to unsettle Nadal and Djokovic Given his aura as the greatest fast court player ever.
Where is a CPI when u need one!!

 

[The Blond Blur]

Where did you get these?

https://www.ultimatetennisstatistics.com/tournament?tournamentId=19