grass-court season just the right length for Federer

[dh003i]

Grass right length for Federer

Despite his success on the surface, Federer thinks grass-court season length should stay the same, because great things have happened with the pairing of the FO & Wimbledon so close. Nadal wants a longer pre-Wimbledon grass-court season, for more time to prepare for Wimbledon. Safina has an ignorant and stupid view, saying she doesn't like it, so doesn't mind if Wimbledon goes.

While Federer has a point, I also agree with Nadal. It is reasonable to want more preparation time. But failing that, at the very least, there should be more of a grass-court season after Wimbledon...like there's a HC season after the Australian Open.

 

[Nadal_Freak]

Yep Fed just doesn't like change. No matter what. He is a traditionalist.

 

[dh003i]

Yep Fed just doesn't like change. No matter what. He is a traditionalist.

I would agree with that, by and large. In the defense of his point, Borg's accomplishments were so impressive because of his 5 back-to-back FO-Wimbledons. Arguably that's on level with Laver's 2 GS.

Edit: I also think he said something about the recent AO surface change, saying that should keep this surface for 20 years or so.

 

[Deleted member 25923]

Grass right length for Federer

Despite his success on the surface, Federer thinks grass-court season length should stay the same, because great things have happened with the pairing of the FO & Wimbledon so close. Nadal wants a longer pre-Wimbledon grass-court season, for more time to prepare for Wimbledon. Safina has an ignorant and stupid view, saying she doesn't like it, so doesn't mind if Wimbledon goes.

Sounds like someone else from the same family tree.....

While Federer has a point, I also agree with Nadal. It is reasonable to want more preparation time. But failing that, at the very least, there should be more of a grass-court season after Wimbledon...like there's a HC season after the Australian Open.

Yes, both players have valid reasoning. This formula has worked for Federer and no doubt that he is most likely the best on grass on the ATP tour right now (we haven't seen any grass court yet this year), but why fix what is working. However, Nadal is also right in the fact that some players need more grass court preparation is true.

I agree that there should be more grasscourt tournaments. However, if there were more tournaments after Wimbledon, the ATP would have to make sure that they were Masters Series tournaments. The reason many people play the HC tournies after the Australian is because they need the preparation for the Masters series tournaments before clay court season. Either that, or they're actually playing the Masters series tournaments.

 

[alienhamster]

The grass court season needs to be about three weeks longer to come close to even being called a "season."

And there absolutely needs to be a TMS on grass. I've still never seen a compelling reason why there isn't one currently.

 

[Deleted member 25923]

The grass court season needs to be about three weeks longer to come close to even being called a "season."

And there absolutely needs to be a TMS on grass. I've still never seen a compelling reason why there isn't one currently.

Exactly!!!!!! There are already regular tournies, but no ones compelled to play since it's after Wimbledon. People are compelled to play HC tournaments after Aussie because they're Masters!

 

[ACE of Hearts]

I hope we dont see the joke called grass from last year.It almost cost Fed the title last year.I thought it was Roland Garros part deux.

 

[Hot Sauce]

Yep Fed just doesn't like change. No matter what. He is a traditionalist.

Yeah, this is true.

 

[dh003i]

I think this post illustrates the value behind Federer's view...

It is unfortunate that after all the slams were established, the AO became less important from the late 70's to the late 80's. It makes it more difficult to compare between eras.

Any change made shouldn't be made in a vacuum...one should consider the effect the change has on how we look at the past in tennis, and how the future will look at us; how generations will compare. It is important to keep continuity.

It is much easier to compare American Football over half a century than tennis over 50 years. Look at chess, it's been essentially the same for hundreds of years.

 

[Max G.]

It is unfortunate that after all the slams were established, the AO became less important from the late 70's to the late 80's. It makes it more difficult to compare between eras.

Except that I don't think change wasn't really made intentionally. It was just far to travel and not worth it - it's not like the tennis powers-that-be decided that it was time to devalue the AO. Indeed, if we wanted continuity, the right thing to do would have been to let the AO stay a 'minor major,' instead of consciously pushing it and making it better, as happened later.

 

[superstition]

Yep Fed just doesn't like change. No matter what. He is a traditionalist.

One with a short memory because he's so young. There was just a Tennis Channel thing about the Evert family and when Chris went to compete at the US Open it was on grass. That's right, folks. It's not as if it's been an eternity since most tournaments were played on grass.

I saw footage of the match. The lawns were beautiful and the play was exciting, with Evert saving 6 match points with laser-like backhands down the line.

 

[dh003i]

Except that I don't think change wasn't really made intentionally. It was just far to travel and not worth it - it's not like the tennis powers-that-be decided that it was time to devalue the AO. Indeed, if we wanted continuity, the right thing to do would have been to let the AO stay a 'minor major,' instead of consciously pushing it and making it better, as happened later.

Except before the late 70's to late 80's, the AO had been a significant major...see the timeline I linked to. It rose to prominence, then declined in the 70's to 80's...I wonder why it wasn't reasonable or affordable or worth the plane-trip then, when airfare was surely cheaper, than years before.