Is the grass season too short?

The surfaces total should be

  • 42% grass, 40% clay, 10% hard, and 8% carpet

    Votes: 8 4.8%

  • 40% grass, 30% clay, 20% hard, and 10% carpet

    Votes: 3 1.8%

  • 30% grass, 30% clay, 30% hard, and 10% carpet

    Votes: 61 36.3%

  • 30% grass, 30% clay, 25% hard, and 15% carpet

    Votes: 12 7.1%

  • 35% grass, 35% clay, 25% hard, and 5% carpet

    Votes: 16 9.5%

  • 25% grass, 40% clay, 30% hard, and 5% carpet

    Votes: 9 5.4%

  • 20% grass, 25% clay, 40% hard, and 15% carpet

    Votes: 26 15.5%

  • 20% grass, 30% clay, 40% hard, and 10% carpet

    Votes: 21 12.5%

  • 20% grass, 40% clay, 30% hard, and 10% carpet

    Votes: 1 0.6%

  • 10% grass, 40% clay, 42% hard, and 8% carpet

    Votes: 11 6.5%
  • Total voters
    168
The balls in your court. said:
Grass is an antiquated surface that only one country plays on .

Wimbledon should only be played with wooden racquest and looked at as a cute nostalgic surface that brigs us back to the roots of tennis. It has no place in todays tennis world.
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Your comment neglects the fact that the human body is even more "antiquated" than grass court tennis. It hasn't evolved into a cyborg like the Terminator. Hard synthetics simply are hard on the human body. When we start having metal and graphite bodies, then you might be right. Until then, grass remains the surface that's the most compatible with the human body.
 
obnoxious2 said:
Grass season is the least tenuous on the body yet it's the shortest season. It's only like one month. 2 weeks for 2 separate warmups and 2 weeks of Wimbledon.
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Correct - clay and grass should be longer then the hard court. Clay is fine (is long enough I think) but the hard court season is way too long. I think there is a business reason - hard courts are cheaper to build and maintain.
 
I don't think there is even a grass court "season." And the one big tournament in it is so close after the FO it is not fair.
 
They should put RG earlier in the season when there is a big chunk of no slams. Then get rid of some of the australian tournaments to have the red clay season. We have way too many hardcourt tournaments and not enough variety. After RG they shouldhave more grass tournaments.
 
they should get rid of stuttgart and the tournaments within 2 weeks after wimbly, move wimbledon to those two weeks, have a masters grass tourny and a warm up or so, and call it a day.
 
Money and pro tennis

danb said:
Correct - clay and grass should be longer then the hard court. Clay is fine (is long enough I think) but the hard court season is way too long. I think there is a business reason - hard courts are cheaper to build and maintain.
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Money can't be any problem. Look at this:

http://www.atptennis.com/en/common/...ennis.com/en/media/rankings/Current_Prize.pdf

Even #50 (S Darcis) has earned over 300 000 US dollars in 5 months by playing tennis. OK. It is only 200 000 €!

PS.My suggestion:40% grass, 50% clay, 0% hard, and 10% carpet
 
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I like 30% : 30% : 30% : 10% grass : clay : hard : carpet...or even 35% : 35% : 20% : 10%, or maybe even 40% : 40% : 15% : 5%.
 
Sounds logical, what I would suggest. However, the onus is on Wimbledon to move. They refuse to. I'm all for tradition in sports, but at times one must make adjustments. If Roland Garros were to be moved up, the weather will not be pleasant.
 
Perhaps there could be some overlap, like having more grass tournaments concurrently with hard court tournaments and hard court tournaments concurrently with clay tournaments?
 
Is there only 2 grass tournaments before wimby?

It seems like its only artois and halle...

If so, thats way short...less clay and a few more grass should be a good even season.
 
Grass is incredibly fun to watch. Tennis ratings are in the dumps and it wouldn't hurt them to extend the grass season to get a few more viewers. Only tennis fans can stand to watch claycourt tennis on TV. Most people complain that they can't even see the ball and change the channel.

The indoor season is fine but they should speed those courts up. We need fast courts SOMEWHERE.

What they should do is go 30/30/30/10, and separate the grass season into different components. Some fast grass, some slow grass.
 
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The balls in your court. said:
Grass is an antiquated surface that only one country plays on .

Wimbledon should only be played with wooden racquets and looked at as a cute nostalgic surface that brigs us back to the roots of tennis. It has no place in todays tennis world.
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I also want to add that the men should also wear long white pants and long white sleeve shirts. The women of course should wear dresses down to their ankles.

...wait a minute!!! federer already wears his cutesy little wimby outfit to every match!
 
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It'll never happen. Tournament directors and the ATP will always be looking out for their respective bottom lines. This is why the grass season has been all but eliminated and the clay season is getting squeezed. These surfaces are much more expensive to maintain then hardcourts and therefore will never return to there former prominence. The more viable solution would be to have tournaments on some sort of artificial grass like field-turf. Does anyone know if it has been tried before?
 
Boo to grass. Just because other tournaments have been played on grass in the past does not mean that they should be now. The surfaces that are played on now is a good representation of where tennis has evolved to at present. I know superstition would love to see it go away from poly strings and the racquets of today but the fact is the game is better the way it is for the masses or else it would not be where it is today. This arguement is like saying Nascar is too fast and there are too many crashes. We should go back to racing charriots on dirt tracks. Whatever
 
Three stupid personal attack posts in such a short span. Joy. Grass isn't just about serve and volley, and recycling the "evolution" argument won't make it any better. The human body hasn't evolved into a cyborg yet. So, grass is still easier on the body than concrete.
Transaltion: "I am a fed fan and I am really upset that fed keeps getting his butt kicked on clay"
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Quit trolling. I voted for the first choice which would make the clay season about the same length as the grass season. My reasons have little, if anything, to do with Federer. I'm happy to see Nadal playing well and was disappointed that he "lost" to Ferrero because of the horrible state of his feet. Give up and move on.
 
If you're going to shoot down everyone who says anything against grass then why not just give 1 poll option. Then everyone has to agree with how right you are!
 
superstition said:
Quit trolling.
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Have you ever heard of Mcarthyism?

It happened during the 1950's. Anyone you was suspected of being a communist was persecuted and a witch hunt ensued wherein the accused life was completely ruined. Anyone who the government perceived as a threat was labeled as a "communist" and persecuted as such.

During the Salem witch hunts anyone who was considered a threat was burned at the stake.

The same gose on here at TW. Any perceived threat to Federer automatically qualifies one as a troll and subjects one to a witchunt just like in the Salem witchunts or during Mcarthy communist trials.

The truth is that grass is only played on by one country , It is an antiquated and outdated surface that represents a minority of tennis as it exists in the world today.
 
this is what the tour would look like with more grass...
4kmixpg.jpg
 
iPlayer said:
If you're going to shoot down everyone who says anything against grass then why not just give 1 poll option. Then everyone has to agree with how right you are!
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There's a big difference between personally attacking someone and debating the number of grass tournaments. And, poor reasoning is poor reasoning. The "evolution" argument is meritless because it's based on the faulty idea that the human body has evolved to a point where hard synthetics aren't harmful and grass is no longer an advantage for safety.
 
No one has ever said that the hardcourts are not harder on the body than grass. Here is an arguement for you, Who Cares? What difference does it make what is easier or harder on the body. As numerous others have said hardcourts produce better tennis for todays game. The arguement that Grass is antequated is not merritless it is the truth. You have every right to have your opinion on grass vs. hardcourts etc. but so do others. You just are not willing to see anyone elses point of view if they disagree with yours.
 
superstition said:
Your comment neglects the fact that the human body is even more "antiquated" than grass court tennis. It hasn't evolved into a cyborg like the Terminator. Hard synthetics simply are hard on the human body. When we start having metal and graphite bodies, then you might be right. Until then, grass remains the surface that's the most compatible with the human body.
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Limestone is naturally made, should we be playing on that too?
 
Hard should be the most played cause its not as fast as grass not as slow as clay, kind of a neutral. Clay and grass should be the same. And no one really cares about carpet. So like like 40 hard 30 clay 30 grass.
 
Blade0324 said:
Here is an arguement for you, Who Cares? What difference does it make what is easier or harder on the body.
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And easy position to take when it's not your body that you depend on for your livelihood. And, it's better for the sport to have players who can have long careers and not have to pull out of events or play poorly.
As numerous others have said
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Numerous people said the Earth is flat once.
hardcourts produce better tennis
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That is a very subjective opinion, and one that is outweighed in my view by the damage done to the body which produces, ultimately, less quality tennis. Shortened careers and hampered play due to unnecessary injuries is not a recipe for success.
for todays game.
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I'm not talking about today's game. This post is about the future.
The arguement that Grass is antequated is not merritless it is the truth.
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Just like the notion that the human body has evolved from organic to synthetic and therefore is right at home on concrete?
You have every right to have your opinion on grass vs. hardcourts etc. but so do others. You just are not willing to see anyone elses point of view if they disagree with yours.
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Opinions are never equal. Opinions are estimations of truth and truth is singular. If someone's opinion is that the moon is made of green cheese that opinion is less valid than another's opinion that it is made of rock. Evidence is what counts.
 
McNasty911 said:
Hard should be the most played cause its not as fast as grass not as slow as clay, kind of a neutral. Clay and grass should be the same.
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Hard courts are not neutral on the body and therefore the career and the quality of play. If you're not playing the quality of play certainly isn't high! If spectators can't see their favorites players due to early retirement, pull-outs, and injuries, then the quality of tennis offered by concrete is far from neutral.

Hard courts definitely offer advantages to certain types of play, too. They generally do not favor serve and volley because of the regularity of bounces and typically high bounces. Plus, net play can be particularly hard on the joints. Jumping and lunging to hit volleys on concrete is a recipe for bad knees and ankles.

No surface is neutral which is why balance is important. Hard courts favor players who hit flat (faster courts) or topspin (slower, higher bouncing courts) and serve aces. They do not favor slice strokes like grass, or net play.
And no one really cares about carpet. So like like 40 hard 30 clay 30 grass.
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I would expect McEnroe, for instance, cares about carpet since he holds the record for consecutive wins on that surface. Some people clearly do care about carpet. The question is, rather, "how many carpet tournaments should there be?"
 
I agree with the points that HC is harder onthe body. But I don't want less diversity of surfaces. It is interesting that there are different surfaces. I think the HC seasons should be shortened, but still split in two different chunks. I would say 35% grass, 35% clay, 20% HC, 5% carpet, 5% wood.
 
dh003i said:
I agree with the points that HC is harder onthe body. But I don't want less diversity of surfaces. It is interesting that there are different surfaces. I think the HC seasons should be shortened, but still split in two different chunks. I would say 35% grass, 35% clay, 20% HC, 5% carpet, 5% wood.
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HC is harder on body true but hardcourt specialists tend to have far,far longer careers then claycourt specialists simply because rallies are MUCH longer on clay and a shot that is normally a winner on HC will be very reachable on clay,also you earn more free points with your serve on HC.
 
I love to watch grass court tennis, its different and it looks so great. Even though I've never played on grass, and have no grass courts nearby, for me the grass court season is very short, and having a Master Series on grass to me, is a great idea, but I understand it would be hard to fi in the ATP Schedule. Shouldnt the US grass tournament (newport is it? hall of fame?) be before Wimbledon? that would bring bigger players...
 
zagor said:
HC is harder on body true but hardcourt specialists tend to have far,far longer careers then claycourt specialists simply because rallies are MUCH longer on clay and a shot that is normally a winner on HC will be very reachable on clay,also you earn more free points with your serve on HC.
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Grass is even easier on the body, though. What about (from start of year), 15% HC, 30% clay, 30% grass, 15% HC, 5% wood, 5% carpet?
 
Much too short

They really need to rework the schedule, and if it means sacrificing part of the post-Australian Open hard court swing, then so be it.

There should be a Masters Series event on grass that ends at least one weeks before Wimbledon begins. Its been great to see Federer-Nadal at Monte-Carlo, Rome, and Hamburg, and so it would be great to see Federer, Nadal, Roddick, and Djokovich in the same draw at more than one grass court event.
 
dh003i said:
Grass is even easier on the body, though. What about (from start of year), 15% HC, 30% clay, 30% grass, 15% HC, 5% wood, 5% carpet?
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I see more people slipping on grass than anywhere else. It probably is the most dangerous surface due to all the slipping.
 
superstition said:
A more useful question is "Is grass softer than concrete?" Your limestone is a straw man.
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Your whole argument just got blown up into pieces. The human body is natural, and limestone naturally occurs in nature. Does that mean we should be playing on limestone too?


Better yet, should we be playing on other hard natural surfaces because they are "natural" as stated by your argument? Really, this whole "because the body is natural, and grass is natural, we should be playing on it" argument just got blown to pieces.


A much better reason to play on grass is because it forces varied play and it is softer on the body at the same time, usually resulting in higher quality tennis.
 
Funny, most of the viewers' questions on BBC's coverage of Queen's is about the length of the grass season and why there isn't a grass court masters'.
 
NamRanger said:
Your whole argument just got blown up into pieces.
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Oh really?
The human body is natural, and limestone naturally occurs in nature. Does that mean we should be playing on limestone too?
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Oh, the straw man again. Impressive.
Better yet, should we be playing on other hard natural surfaces because they are "natural" as stated by your argument? Really, this whole "because the body is natural, and grass is natural, we should be playing on it" argument just got blown to pieces.
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The argument is that soft organic materials like grass, gut, and wood are easier on the body than hard synthetics like concrete, poly, and stiff graphite. Your hyperbole isn't helpful. It's just silly.
 
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