How can grass now be that slow?

[thalivest]

In the match results area some of you were saying grass is so slow. Grass seems slower then it used to be, but still quite fast to me. If grass is slow now how did:

1)Soderling almost beat Nadal at Wimbledon
2)Roddick keep doing so well at Wimbledon
3)serve and volley player Bjorkman reach the semis last year at 35
4)Venus win Wimbledon this year, and Henin continue to struggle to win there

 

[NamRanger]

In the match results area some of you were saying grass is so slow. Grass seems slower then it used to be, but still quite fast to me. If grass is slow now how did:

1)Soderling almost beat Nadal at Wimbledon
2)Roddick keep doing so well at Wimbledon
3)serve and volley player Bjorkman reach the semis last year at 35
4)Venus win Wimbledon this year, and Henin continue to struggle to win there

It played like a slow hardcourt, which suits Roddick fine as you can tell at the Australian Open.


Soderling is quite the player, he's tricky to deal with.


Bjorkman's style is very rare to come across, and even though grass is much slower, it still favors a net player because of how the ball skids on the grass still.


How is Henin struggling? She made the finals the year before, and faced a tricky opponent late in the tournament who caught fire.


Venus can outpower anyone from the baseline, which this grass favors.

 

[thalivest]

It played like a slow hardcourt, which suits Roddick fine as you can tell at the Australian Open.


Soderling is quite the player, he's tricky to deal with.


Bjorkman's style is very rare to come across, and even though grass is much slower, it still favors a net player because of how the ball skids on the grass still.


How is Henin struggling? She made the finals the year before, and faced a tricky opponent late in the tournament who caught fire.


Venus can outpower anyone from the baseline, which this grass favors.

OK on your Roddick comment, but you are already admiting it does not play like clay which some said. If it played like clay Roddick would never do well.

Soderling is not a player who can do well on slow courts, look at his results, he is only dangerous on faster courts.

Ok on your Bjorkman comment but you are admiting the grass still skids which again is shows a quality that the current grass still has grass court characteristic to it.

Well Venus needs a fast court to win, especialy today no longer a dominant player. Even the Australian Open she hasnt been great in her career, let alone now. So her to win the title so strongly the court would have to be fast.

Henin has struggled at Wimbledon since she still cant win there, and grass has always been her worst surface, she has been thumped by the Williams quite a few times there which would almost never happen on hard courts, and suffers multiple bad losses like to Bartoli and that chubby greek girl.

 

[Zaragoza]

In the match results area some of you were saying grass is so slow. Grass seems slower then it used to be, but still quite fast to me. If grass is slow now how did:

1)Soderling almost beat Nadal at Wimbledon
2)Roddick keep doing so well at Wimbledon
3)serve and volley player Bjorkman reach the semis last year at 35
4)Venus win Wimbledon this year, and Henin continue to struggle to win there

5) Arthurs beat Robredo in straight sets.
6) Blake beat Andreev in straights.
7)Mathieu beat Ferrer in straights.
8 )Davydenko went to 5 sets to beat Guccione.
9)Baghdatis beat Davydenko in straights.

Not the kind of results you would see on a slow surface.

 

[thalivest]

5) Arthurs beat Robredo in straight sets.
6) Blake beat Andreev in straights.
7)Mathieu beat Ferrer in straights.
8 )Davydenko went to 5 sets to beat Guccione.
9)Baghdatis beat Davydenko in straights.

Not the kind of results you would see on a slow surface.

Thank you. Those are very good examples as well. Those results scream out fast court. Which makes it more confusing to me to read people talking about grass being a slow court now a couple days ago in the match results area.

 

[bluetrain4]

It's not that Wimbledon's grass is slow like the slowest red clay courts. The comments on TW are comparing the current grass to Wimbledon's past grass, which was much faster and skidded lower. This is not an opinion. It's fact. Wimbledon changed the composition of the grass (from a mixture to all rye grass, I believe) to slow down play. There is a marked difference even if grass isn't as slow as clay. All of the players have talked about the higher bounces and slower play. Doesn't mean that it's as slow as some people are making out.

 

[superstition]

It's not just the grass that's changed. The soil composition results in a higher bounce. Martina said the balls bounce much higher than they used to. The court is slower, too.

 

[kingdaddy41788]

It's not just the grass that's changed. The soil composition results in a higher bounce. Martina said the balls bounce much higher than they used to. The court is slower, too.

Agreed. It's not slow, it's slowER. It used to be much faster than it is now.

 

[Heavy Metal Tennis Star]

its not slow, its slower indeed.

but since this board has had the talk about wimby and all. i think its safe to say im the only one here who likes the new grass courts.

 

[coloskier]

Another thing is that they do not mow it as low as they used to. If you watched Wimbledon in the 90's it was almost brown by the end of the tournament because of how low they mowed it. Back then the only ball that would bounce shoulder high was a lob. Groundstrokes were usually knee height, and occasionally waist high if they hit a bad spot on the court. The court is a lot smoother now. One of the main reasons everybody used to play serve and volley was because they didn't dare let the ball bounce because half the time you did not know which way it would bounce.

 

[Steve132]

Look at the courts. In the past they were quite worn up the middle as players advanced to the net. Now all the wear and tear is on the baseline. This is not entirely due to the courts' slowness, as changes in racquet technology and the heavier balls used have also made serve and volley less profitable. There is no doubt, however, that the All England Club deliberately made the courts slower in response to complaints that serve and volley tennis was too boring, did not allow for rallies, etc.

 

[fastdunn]

In the match results area some of you were saying grass is so slow. Grass seems slower then it used to be, but still quite fast to me. If grass is slow now how did:

1)Soderling almost beat Nadal at Wimbledon
2)Roddick keep doing so well at Wimbledon
3)serve and volley player Bjorkman reach the semis last year at 35
4)Venus win Wimbledon this year, and Henin continue to struggle to win there

1) we had rain delays: more than 1 as I recall. rain delays can change a match completely.
2) yeah, it's probably still not quite clay slow.
3) Bjorkman did not serve and volley much.
4) ???

* Note that the half of adjusting on grass is footwork on grass. Most players struggle with footwork on grass for a few years before they get comfy with it. There are not many grass tournies and hard to get experiences...


I've heard players saying Wimbledon is now medium quick, US Open is the quickest. Wimbledon official claimed the speed is same and the difference is in the high "bounce"......

I think now all surfaces are converging to medium speed.....

 

[stormholloway]

People are just saying it's slow FOR Wimbledon grass compared to yesteryear. It's still grass.

 

[Tempest344]

well grass is quite slow nowadays compared to what it USED to be like
I believe Henman was always complaining it was too slow
much Like Hewitt does about the Oz Open

 

[Nadal_Freak]

Yep still the fastest I think. Still it takes spin better than hard courts with predictalbe bounces. Clay takes spin the best though because of the big bounces as well as being unpredictable.

 

[FedForGOAT]

It's not that Wimbledon's grass is slow like the slowest red clay courts. The comments on TW are comparing the current grass to Wimbledon's past grass, which was much faster and skidded lower. This is not an opinion. It's fact. Wimbledon changed the composition of the grass (from a mixture to all rye grass, I believe) to slow down play. There is a marked difference even if grass isn't as slow as clay. All of the players have talked about the higher bounces and slower play. Doesn't mean that it's as slow as some people are making out.

I agree. The rye grass is producing higher and "truer" bounces (rather than skidding) and is quite similar to the faster hardcourts. There used to be a distinct difference. people used to complain (a little) that wimby had too much S&V so they made it slower. Now people want the S&V back!

 

[superstition]

people used to complain (a little) that wimby had too much S&V so they made it slower. Now people want the S&V back!

It's the transition to graphite racquets that's responsible, particularly powerful racquets that make serving aces easy. When tennis was played with wood, people didn't complain about too much serve and volley. Players like Tilden, after all, were able to play mostly at the baseline and dominate. The game was much more balanced.