Is this the future of Tennis

[fednad]

Retrievers, who can turn defence into offence. Players who have no obvious weakness but have no obvious killing strength also.
Racket technology and slow surfaces have made it next to impossible to hit aces even for the world's top players.
First, it was the the US open final and then today's final. Same slugfest.
Drama was high but the variety was totally lacking.
Would/Should they de-homogenize the surfaces again?

 

[jukka1970]

How is this hurting tennis? hell if anything it's helped it. There was nothing more boring then people just hitting aces. Now as far as the surfaces go, should they slow down RG and speed up Wimbledon again? I don't know.

It's funny because I was going to start a topic asking if the equipment has made things to fast, but the players are still getting the shots back, so am not sure anything has to change.

 

[albertotenis]

i like to see an ace from time to time.. not 3 in a row.
A lot of people see tennis as a boring sport because of the times where some matches were just serve and volley.

so i like it more now

 

[fps]

If it is the future I'm not sure I want it. It was the drama of who was going to win the match that made this great, not the actual tennis played. I don't want to have to wade through 3 sets of utter mediocrity before it gets interesting at the business end of the match.

 

[Xizel]

Each slam should have its uniqueness. USO should be faster than it was 2011.

 

[ricki]

we want to see top 5 players compete for final in every slam and masters 1000 tournament. So they should keep surfaces as it is. And look at Isner, Karlovic and Raonic, they ace alot

 

[sunnyIce]

yup agreed. it was drudgery. seemed more like the Tour de France to me. Ride the peloton, and swallow up the few guys brave enough to throw up a challenge and breakaway.

anyways, i think this match was as close as it was because of conditions. too slow, and rafa too fast to really hit through. so to me, this match was a celebration of great athleticism and not tennis per se.

of course most sports are this way nowadays, where power, strength, stamina and insane perseverance has overtaken pure skill, guile, tactics and artistry.

 

[hawk eye]

Retrievers, who can turn defence into offence. Players who have no obvious weakness but have no obvious killing strength also.

I wouldn't say there's no obvious killing strength in today's game. In the SF's as well as in the final I saw loads of insane winners. I do believe that a winner generaly has to be hit better than before because the defense has become much better with Nadal, Djokovic and Murray.
The returns have gotten more dangerous though. A second serve against Djokovic means the odds are clearly against you.

 

[craniopath]

some like it some don't. I think tennis is getting pretty boring.
I don't mind seeing 1-2 aces in a point, 3 if it comes from technique and placement and not shear power. More than aces though I miss a good volley

 

[craniopath]

yup agreed. it was drudgery. seemed more like the Tour de France to me. Ride the peloton, and swallow up the few guys brave enough to throw up a challenge and breakaway.

anyways, i think this match was as close as it was because of conditions. too slow, and rafa too fast to really hit through. so to me, this match was a celebration of great athleticism and not tennis per se.

of course most sports are this way nowadays, where power, strength, stamina and insane perseverance has overtaken pure skill, guile, tactics and artistry.

concur every word

 

[stingstang]

we want to see top 5 players compete for final in every slam and masters 1000 tournament.

You do. I don't.

How many times can you watch the same movie before getting bored? What would be wrong with a grass specialist like Henman taking it to the big boys and making it interesting at Wimbledon once a year? Hell even a volley might be nice, remember those?

Don't get me wrong, I like Djoker/Nadal marathons. Just not every tournament. Same old every time doesn't = entertainment.

 

[merlinpinpin]

You do. I don't.

How many times can you watch the same movie before getting bored? What would be wrong with a grass specialist like Henman taking it to the big boys and making it interesting at Wimbledon once a year? Hell even a volley might be nice, remember those?

Don't get me wrong, I like Djoker/Nadal marathons. Just not every tournament. Same old every time doesn't = entertainment.

Exactly. Variety (in playing conditions, playing styles, and players that go deep in tournaments) would make tennis much more exciting again. At the moment, it's just boring, I'm afraid.

 

[Winner_DownTheLine]

Djokovic could have come to the net several times but he had no balls, wish Federer had djoko's backhand.

 

[Sentinel]

If you want to see real tennis, tune in to the Fred matches, not these 41-shot "slugfests". While he lasts.

 

[djokovic2008]

Djokovic could have come to the net several times but he had no balls, wish Federer had djoko's backhand.

More like wish fed had his BH, movement mental strength, heart the list goes on.

 

[War Safin!]

Retrievers, who can turn defence into offence. Players who have no obvious weakness but have no obvious killing strength also.
Racket technology and slow surfaces have made it next to impossible to hit aces even for the world's top players.
First, it was the the US open final and then today's final. Same slugfest.
Drama was high but the variety was totally lacking.
Would/Should they de-homogenize the surfaces again?

Ace count and serve-speed was down (but not dramatically) from last year's AO.

Obviously they can't speed up court-surfaces/change ball-composition too much, or those blow-outs of the mid-late 1990s will seem trivial when you get today's guys banging the ball down.

Let's see what happens for the remainder of the season...

 

[Winner_DownTheLine]

More like wish fed had his BH, movement mental strength, heart the list goes on.

no, Fed's got everything except his BH against nadal.

 

[urban]

It may be interesting, that soccer is going in the other direction. A few years ago, it looked, that defensive play and athletic strength would dominate world soccer. But in the last years teams like Barcelona or the Spanish and German teams won big titles on speed, creative passing game, tactical and artistic skills. Messi, Xavi, Iniesta are anything but big boned marathon runners, but all small, elegant, creative movers.

 

[zam88]

I can tell you that almost no one wants to actually sit through a 6 hour match no matter what the quality level.

The amount of time nadal and dkjoker take between points combined with the long rallies and being so close skill-wise that many of the games go to deuce and beyond make it so that the matches are difficult to televise, schedule, etc.

4.5 hour + grand slam matches are compelling but 6 hours is just way way too much even when its interesting.

too much of a good thing...

 

[sargeinaz]

More like wish fed had his BH, movement mental strength, heart the list goes on.

And slam count.