My solution to today's boring tennis

[FatHead250]

I'm getting so bored of watching this pathetic hard courts tennis. I think they should bring Austrlalian Open on grass back, and switch all the tournaments preceeding it to grass too. That way, after the season end (or even some tournaments in the season-end wing), the players will be practicing all off-season on grass courts (Rafa can accomodate some players in his academy, and Australia can build a lot of courts for players to practice off-season). This will provide the conditions for the necessary changes in todays game - bringing back all-court tennis, the serve and volleys.

Also, Australian Open, after switching to grass, should make their doubles trophey more prestigious. Right now, the doubles are a joke (Ryan Harisson won the FO !!). Making top players practice their doubles game too and thus making tennis more entertaining and interesting.

DOUBLES IS WHAT MOST OF RECREATIONAL TENNIS IS ALL ABOUT. BRING IT BACK

Also, after the US open, hard should be abandoned too, switching either to grass or carpet. Or, what would be even better - make top players play doules and not singles after US Open. Make ATP tour finals doubles-only.

My season would be:
1)grass wing
2)AO, doubles AO (grass)
3)clay wing
4) FO (clay)
5) grass masters and Wimbledon (grass)
6) hard court wing
7) Us Open (hard courts)
8) Doubles stretch (probably on carpet or hard courts(most likely)) and Season finals (doubles). This is where all the fun tournaments for spectators like Laver Cup are played
9) off-season (players training on grass)

The end result is: less injuries, more talent pool, more entertaining tennis all year round. Right now, nothing is more boring than Austrlaian Open where same players get to later stages playing boring tennis

Discuss

 

[Silverbullet96]

I feel like the game is getting way too based on fitness.... Mainly the authorities making the balls heavier & heavier is probably the biggest cause, it makes all kinds of Tennis more physical based, even if it is played on a fast court, because you still need lot of body/arm strength to hit through the ball everytime at a good pace.

Proof of balls getting heavier:
From 3:00, Leander Paes talks in this video how he actually weighed past and present tennis balls (of the same tournament) and saw significant difference in weight.

I think that is making the sport more predictable, as only the most hard working human beings alive (Big 3) can enjoy tennis without getting injured all the time, and young/lower ranked players barely have access to the fitness/medical stuff that Top players have, I don't think that is good.

 

[Tennease]

Standardize the racquets and strings. Racquet head size must not exceed 85 square inch. Use natural gut string only.

 

[FatHead250]

Standardize the racquets and strings. Racquet head size must not exceed 85 square inch. Use natural gut string only.

This is an infeasible solution.

My proposal isnt changing the game it's jsut changing tennis formats. Which will lead to changing the game. All i suggested can be easily done in one year.


No player would want to play with another racquet. This is ridiculous

 

[socallefty]

I don’t know how this will make tennis more interesting or bring S-V back.

- Just three guys have won Wimbledon in the last decade and hardly anyone else has been a serious threat. None of them were S-Vrs.
- The last time a S-Vr won Wimbledon was possibly 2003 when Federer did a lot more S-V. S-Vrs have become extinct on slow grass after poly strings got popular as it is too easy to hit passing shots.
- Before they slowed down the grass at Wimbledon, it was almost unwatchable in the late Nineties as it was mostly servebot tennis rather than S-V tennis with too many short points from aces and service winners. Wimbledon slowed down the grass to make the sport more enjoyable to watch after the debacle of the Nineties. I was a Sampras fan in those days, but watching him play at Wimbledon was way more boring than other tournaments due to the dominance of the serve.

I would rather have another clay court Slam at the AO as I really enjoy clay court tennis - way more than hard courts and grass even though I play mostly on hard courts. I guess there are all kinds of tennis fans with all kinds of preferences. You can’t please all the people all the time.

 

[FatHead250]

I don’t know how this will make tennis more interesting or bring S-V back.

- Just three guys have won Wimbledon in the last decade and hardly anyone else has been a serious threat. None of them were S-Vrs.
- The last time a S-Vr won Wimbledon was possibly 2003 when Federer did a lot more S-V. S-Vrs have become extinct on slow grass after poly strings got popular as it is too easy to hit passing shots.
- Before they slowed down the grass at Wimbledon, it was almost unwatchable in the late Nineties as it was mostly servebot tennis rather than S-V tennis with too many short points from aces and service winners. Wimbledon slowed down the grass to make the sport more enjoyable to watch after the debacle of the Nineties. I was a Sampras fan in those days, but watching him play at Wimbledon was way more boring than other tournaments due to the dominance of the serve.

I would rather have another clay court Slam at the AO as I really enjoy clay court tennis - way more than hard courts and grass even though I play mostly on hard courts. I guess there are all kinds of tennis fans with all kinds of preferences. You can’t please all the people all the time.

It is possible that modern racquets mixed with fast grass of the 90s will produce a different kind of tennis than that was played in the 90s at wimbeldon

 

[socallefty]

It is possible that modern racquets mixed with fast grass of the 90s will produce a different kind of tennis than that was played in the 90s at wimbeldon

Racquets haven’t changed much since the Nineties - it is strings that has changed to mostly poly or poly hybrids instead of gut. Maybe at the pro level, midplus has replaced mids as the popular head size. What change has happened that would result in less aces or service winners?

I think that average service speed seems to have gone up even though surfaces are slower because players are stronger/taller and they can impart more spin at high pace with poly to keep the serve inside the box. There were always big servers even in those days, but it seems like every promising young player is 6’3” tall and serves 130 mph these days. I think servebotting will be even more common - ready for Riley Opelka, the seven foot tall 8-time AO grass court champion?

 

[Yugram]

Tennis is not boring at all right now.

 

[socallefty]

Tennis is not boring at all right now.

I agree. But then again, I like baseball a lot which is the slowest sport played in the US. When I was a kid, I liked Test cricket more than 1-day cricket. I find that the slower the tempo of play in a sport, the more strategic it is which I enjoy.

 

[smalahove]

S&V is a highly offensive tactic in singles.

The first consideration the server has to make, is assess the return and defense capabilities of the returner. Most of today's players are solid returners, that are able to chose their return (flat, spin, deep, short, angled, aso) if you're not going for the ace or forced error, in which case there's little point rushing to the net (except to finish of a weak return, but that's most often not a volley).

If you then go for S&V, you have to make sure your serve gives you enough time to close in on the net, whilst not being easily attackable. Which is why most S&V players chose kick and/or slice serves. However, the time they buy themselves, is also made available to the returner, and today's players, with the equipment available, can pinpoint different areas of the court so much better than before.

Imo, it's no coincidence that a lot lefties have good results with S&V, esp. on the ad side, as the returner then faces two anomalies at the same time: S&V (rare) and pattern-and-spin changed (leftie).

 

[Lew II]

99% of players in the world have never played on real grass.

 

[blablavla]

This is an infeasible solution.

My proposal isnt changing the game it's jsut changing tennis formats. Which will lead to changing the game. All i suggested can be easily done in one year.


No player would want to play with another racquet. This is ridiculous

problem isn't in HC vs grass.
poly string allow some insane spin rates.
couple this with 95 or 100 sq. inch racket, stiff frame, open string pattern and you can pass the player at the net, so you can forget about "all court" tennis, unless the shot at the net is what Djokodal do, an easy put away volley, prepared from baseline grinding.

oh, and don't underestimate the homogenization of surfaces, which includes the "true bounce" grass.
if that's what you think for AO and AO swing, check how much "all court" tennis happens at Wimbledon

 

[Deleted member 688153]

99% of players in the world have never played on real grass.

Even fewer have played on specifically my lawn.

But more seriously, let's change that and put "real" grass everywhere. I assume there would start being loads of ankle injuries and stuff but tennis is going in a ****ty direction anyway, it would be better if players needed to develop the footwork of a 5'6" australian man in the 60's again. I'd like to see hand eye coordination be the in thing again instead of being jacked and running

 

[Jonesy]

The future are HC only, the bounce and speed can be adjusted to look similar to clay or grass. It is easier and cheaper to keep HCs.

I feel at least 30% of todays HCs should have their speed dramatically increased to bring variety to the game.

 

[FatHead250]

The future are HC only, the bounce and speed can be adjusted to look similar to clay or grass. It is easier and cheaper to keep HCs.

I feel at least 30% of todays HCs should have their speed dramatically increased to bring variety to the game.

Inconsistent bounce make for more interesting tennis in my opinion

 

[UnderratedSlam]

I believe the OP hasn't yet realized that he is getting tired of tennis not because of the tennis but because of his personal preferences, which are changing.

You can't whine about changing the world just because you're getting bored with it. That's not how it works.

I sometimes skip months of tennis, only check the scores. Then I go back to it, fresh. It always seems boring when I get tired of it, but feels fresh again when I get back to it. Try it.

Find some other hobbies, there isn't just tennis.

As for quality of tennis, it's actually getting too quick on HC yet again. More servebots, more free points on serve. ATP needs to slow down the game or it will get too quick and rally-free.

And whoever supports rally-free tennis isn't a tennis fan. They are experiencing tennis fatigue without realizing it. Always easy to blame the world...

 

[Tennis_Freak99]

Tennis needs new rivalries, that'll solve the case for you

 

[mbm0912]

grass & doubles is the solution. --

 

[FatHead250]

grass & doubles is the solution. --

Doubles is jsut as interesting part of tennis as singles. The inability of ATP to make doubles popular for players and spectators by overwhelming the schedule with useless and boring singles events is solely their mistake. I have million dollars ideas easily implementable but unfortunately we will be watching the same boring tour for the foreseeable future.

I can see doubles being more popular for spectators than singles with the right execution

 

[Shaolin]

Just add some faster surfaces.

Done.

 

[mbm0912]

Doubles is jsut as interesting part of tennis as singles. The inability of ATP to make doubles popular for players and spectators by overwhelming the schedule with useless and boring singles events is solely their mistake. I have million dollars ideas easily implementable but unfortunately we will be watching the same boring tour for the foreseeable future.

I can see doubles being more popular for spectators than singles with the right execution

as much as I dislike him, I think Jmac put it pretty well as far as the doubles go:

“I don’t know what doubles is bringing to the table. The doubles are the slow guys who aren’t quick enough to play singles. Would it be better off, no disrespect, but would it be better off if there was no doubles at all, and we invest all the money we save elsewhere so that some other guys who never really got into a good position in the sport, end up playing more in singles?”

 

[daggerman]

Tennis isn't (intrinsically) more boring; people are just harder to entertain. No sort of change to court conditions or racquet technology will make a meaningful difference; it will just produce a new set of complaints.

 

[Mr.Lob]

Helium in tennis balls is the answer to boring tennis.

 

[Mark Anderson]

I'm getting so bored of watching this pathetic hard courts tennis. I think they should bring Austrlalian Open on grass back, and switch all the tournaments preceeding it to grass too. That way, after the season end (or even some tournaments in the season-end wing), the players will be practicing all off-season on grass courts (Rafa can accomodate some players in his academy, and Australia can build a lot of courts for players to practice off-season). This will provide the conditions for the necessary changes in todays game - bringing back all-court tennis, the serve and volleys.

Also, Australian Open, after switching to grass, should make their doubles trophey more prestigious. Right now, the doubles are a joke (Ryan Harisson won the FO !!). Making top players practice their doubles game too and thus making tennis more entertaining and interesting.

DOUBLES IS WHAT MOST OF RECREATIONAL TENNIS IS ALL ABOUT. BRING IT BACK

Also, after the US open, hard should be abandoned too, switching either to grass or carpet. Or, what would be even better - make top players play doules and not singles after US Open. Make ATP tour finals doubles-only.

My season would be:
1)grass wing
2)AO, doubles AO (grass)
3)clay wing
4) FO (clay)
5) grass masters and Wimbledon (grass)
6) hard court wing
7) Us Open (hard courts)
8) Doubles stretch (probably on carpet or hard courts(most likely)) and Season finals (doubles). This is where all the fun tournaments for spectators like Laver Cup are played
9) off-season (players training on grass)

The end result is: less injuries, more talent pool, more entertaining tennis all year round. Right now, nothing is more boring than Austrlaian Open where same players get to later stages playing boring tennis

Discuss

You should have watched a championship match with Sampras and Courier. Stopped watching for three years.

 

[Deleted member 744633]

- Before they slowed down the grass at Wimbledon, it was almost unwatchable in the late Nineties as it was mostly servebot tennis rather than S-V tennis with too many short points from aces and service winners. Wimbledon slowed down the grass to make the sport more enjoyable to watch after the debacle of the Nineties. I was a Sampras fan in those days, but watching him play at Wimbledon was way more boring than other tournaments due to the dominance of the serve.

Sampras at Wimbledon and boring? I don't know how anyone can think like that but well, to each his own.

 

[ChrisRF]

Sampras at Wimbledon and boring? I don't know how anyone can think like that but well, to each his own.

I think he means that because Sampras couldn’t show everything he was capable of when the opponent couldn’t even return his serve. Sampras himself said that he was happy to play Agassi in 1999 because he was a baseliner and for once a bit more tennis was played, so that also Sampras himself could show he wasn’t only a server or first volley player.

Sampras had the best serve/volley/return combination, and that’s why he beat the other specialists at Wimbledon. But he also was the best baseliner out of the S&V players (at least if the opponent couldn’t play high topspin).

 

[WNB93]

Switching more courts to grass is probably not possible.
It is expensive to maintain, it depends on the weather too much and the younger players don't like it much.
Lower ranked players cannot afford to travel in pre-season to practice on grass.
Wimbledon said that they cannot postpone the tournament due to them not being able to keep the grass in good shape out of their usual time period.

Tennis is very entertaining still, the problem is that people are used to "instant gratification". 1 hour of fun is enough, then on to something else.
Most will not watch a tennis match for 5 hours. Would I want tennis to turn into something like the UTS permanently? Not really. Will it need to eventually? Possibly, yes.

 

[jxs653]

- Before they slowed down the grass at Wimbledon, it was almost unwatchable in the late Nineties as it was mostly servebot tennis rather than S-V tennis with too many short points from aces and service winners. Wimbledon slowed down the grass to make the sport more enjoyable to watch after the debacle of the Nineties. I was a Sampras fan in those days, but watching him play at Wimbledon was way more boring than other tournaments due to the dominance of the serve.

I was going to say the same thing. Talking of boring tennis, that was boring tennis.

 

[FatHead250]

Switching more courts to grass is probably not possible.
It is expensive to maintain, it depends on the weather too much and the younger players don't like it much.
Lower ranked players cannot afford to travel in pre-season to practice on grass.
Wimbledon said that they cannot postpone the tournament due to them not being able to keep the grass in good shape out of their usual time period.

Tennis is very entertaining still, the problem is that people are used to "instant gratification". 1 hour of fun is enough, then on to something else.
Most will not watch a tennis match for 5 hours. Would I want tennis to turn into something like the UTS permanently? Not really. Will it need to eventually? Possibly, yes.

Tournaments in the season start are held in countries and cities like Qatar, Dubai, etc. They can spend billions to make grass courts possible

 

[blablavla]

Tournaments in the season start are held in countries and cities like Qatar, Dubai, etc. They can spend billions to make grass courts possible

Qatar and Dubai probably can.
The rest probably can't.

And then you need players that can display enough skill on the surface.

 

[ForehandCross]

as much as I dislike him, I think Jmac put it pretty well as far as the doubles go:

“I don’t know what doubles is bringing to the table. The doubles are the slow guys who aren’t quick enough to play singles. Would it be better off, no disrespect, but would it be better off if there was no doubles at all, and we invest all the money we save elsewhere so that some other guys who never really got into a good position in the sport, end up playing more in singles?”

Honestly speaking go watch the highlights of any big doubles match from 90s.


Doubles is way more fast paced. Way better for thrilling crowd reactions.

A good doubles match is more entertaining and faster than singles.

 

[Deleted member 744633]

I think he means that because Sampras couldn’t show everything he was capable of when the opponent couldn’t even return his serve. Sampras himself said that he was happy to play Agassi in 1999 because he was a baseliner and for once a bit more tennis was played, so that also Sampras himself could show he wasn’t only a server or first volley player.

Sampras had the best serve/volley/return combination, and that’s why he beat the other specialists at Wimbledon. But he also was the best baseliner out of the S&V players (at least if the opponent couldn’t play high topspin).

Superb post Machan! Couldn't agree more