New Grass Court Season Idea

clayman2000

clayman2000

Hall of Fame
Week 1: Halle & Notingham (bring it back)
Week 2: Queens Masters ( w~ a Grass challenger the same week)
Week 3: Netherlands & Eastbourne
Week 4: Wimbledon

I think this idea with 1 masters gives several advantages
Firstly, it gives the Nadal and Federer's the ability to skip the 1st week and still get grass court matches in
Secondly, with a Masters, there is incentive to play a warmup tourney, and there will not be as many upsets. The Challenger gives the Mahuts and Guccione's a chance to play two or three warmups, and also a chance to get more ranking pts
Thirdly, it sets for of a stage for Wimbledon... for example, most years we base possible finals based on the previous year, and the clay season. But this logic has faults.... last year Roddick was crap on grass, and he hasnt done much on clay, so we dont really know if he can pull an upset or two.
Witha Masters, we get to see who is playing well on the grass
 
You could put the Newport, R.I. tournament in the second week so the players living in North and even South America could go home for a while and have a grass court tournament to play. Of course, Queens couldn't be a masters then. The total grass court season would still be the same length.
 
Like to see these changes

1/ Make French Open 1 week earlier - and Wimbledon 1 week later. That will create a decent size season on grass again of 4 weeks between Majors and then 2 weeks of Wimbledon. After a few years of this, you might even see some serve and volley players start to emerge again.

2/ A grass Masters event. One of the following two.
- Move Newport (home of the Hall of Fame - so it has prestige) to before Wimbledon and rename it the 'US Grasscourt Championships'.
- Or Queen's club.

The thing against Queen's is that it is in the same city as the Major. It would be good from a fan's point of view if the major events get spread around a bit. Having a US based 'US Grasscourt Championhip' that was also a Masters level event would be good with TV audiciences and fans.

3/ Proposed Schedule:

- First week after Roland Garros - Halle
- Second week - Queen's
- Third Week 'US Grasscourt Championship' - Masters level
- Fourth week - more minor grass court tournaments like the one in the Netherlands or Notingham or Eastbourne. (perhaps one of them could go in the first week).

This is all very achieveable - the majors only get moved by one week respectively. Newport is now not immediately following Wimbledon so the hard court season that follows can be unaltered.
 
timnz said:
1/ Make French Open 1 week earlier - and Wimbledon 1 week later. That will create a decent size season on grass again of 4 weeks between Majors and then 2 weeks of Wimbledon. After a few years of this, you might even see some serve and volley players start to emerge again.

2/ A grass Masters event. One of the following two.
- Move Newport (home of the Hall of Fame - so it has prestige) to before Wimbledon and rename it the 'US Grasscourt Championships'.
- Or Queen's club.

The thing against Queen's is that it is in the same city as the Major. It would be good from a fan's point of view if the major events get spread around a bit. Having a US based 'US Grasscourt Championhip' that was also a Masters level event would be good with TV audiciences and fans.

3/ Proposed Schedule:

- First week after Roland Garros - Halle
- Second week - Queen's
- Third Week 'US Grasscourt Championship' - Masters level
- Fourth week - more minor grass court tournaments like the one in the Netherlands or Notingham or Eastbourne. (perhaps one of them could go in the first week).

This is all very achieveable - the majors only get moved by one week respectively. Newport is now not immediately following Wimbledon so the hard court season that follows can be unaltered.
Click to expand...
Agree with this, though Queens should be the Masters event. Paris has two remember.
 
I like the idea of a US Grasscourt Championship

Chelsea_Kiwi said:
Agree with this, though Queens should be the Masters event. Paris has two remember.
Click to expand...

I'm not American but I feel that there is a large audience there and also if you give it prestige by giving it Masters level status and re-title it the US Grasscourt Championships - you will make it an event that people will aspire to win.

But that's just my opinion. What's your reasons behind making Queen's the Masters level event? Be keen to know :)
 
timnz said:
I'm not American but I feel that there is a large audience there and also if you give it prestige by giving it Masters level status and re-title it the US Grasscourt Championships - you will make it an event that people will aspire to win.

But that's just my opinion. What's your reasons behind making Queen's the Masters level event? Be keen to know :)
Click to expand...
Well we don't need 4 US Masters series.

Queens has the most prestige out of all the grass tournaments (except one; Wimbledon). Players often say how great the facilities are and how high it ranks for them compared to other tournaments. Also it's grass is very fast (fastest I think) and this would add a new dimension to the Masters and allow players that are generally weak on the tour due to the slowness of the courts (that have games suited to faster courts), a chance to go far (or win) in something big. These three factors make it the stand out choice for me. Also not to mention outside of Masters and Grand Slams it would probably attract the strongest field of players.

Judging from your username I would say you are also from New Zealand so you would be disappointed - like myself - that we get to see little to nothing outside of Grand Slams and Masters like this tournament.
 
clayman2000 said:
Week 1: Halle & Notingham (bring it back)
Week 2: Queens Masters ( w~ a Grass challenger the same week)
Week 3: Netherlands & Eastbourne
Week 4: Wimbledon
Click to expand...

Great concept, now email it to the ATP and see what they say... ;). Who knows, maybe they'll be drunk on warm british beer and just rubber-stamp it and make it happen! :D
 
Masters level grass

You are correct. I am from New Zealand. And yes, tennis coverage could be better.

I was just thinking that if you added a US Masters level that one would have to go. I was thinking of Indian wells. The reason for this is that it is the week immediately before Miami which has a greater tradition of being a more prestiguous event that Indian Wells. (In the late 80's and 90's it was called the 5th Grand Slam). Why do they need 2 Masters series back to back?

The other thing, I only count 3 US Masters Level events. What are the 4 that you refer to? :

Indian Wells
Miami
Cincinnati
 
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timnz said:
You are correct. I am from New Zealand. And yes, tennis coverage could be better.

I was just thinking that if you added a US Masters level that one would have to go. I was thinking of Indian wells. The reason for this is that it is the week immediately before Miami which has a greater tradition of being a more prestiguous event that Indian Wells. (In the late 80's and 90's it was called the 5th Grand Slam). Why do they need 2 Masters series back to back?
Click to expand...
Yes that would be removing a US one, forgot that. Still 3 is alot for one country. Perhaps Halle could even get it?
 
Another thing about having a Masters series

Perhaps get to see Federer Nadal matchup in a grasscourt event prior to Wimbledon.

It would even up the Head to head I believe as it scewed in favour of clay court play. (11 out of their 20 matchups have been on clay).
 
Or why not create a whole new tourney as a Master's?
Maybe the Brussels Masters on Grass.... or the Dublin Masters....
Copenhagen Masters?

I don't know, but there's plenty of places near London (surrounding England, I mean) to have a grass masters tourney. Maybe Amsterdam (and you scrap the other Netherlands grass tourney)...

Just my $0.02, but Tennis Masters should be in big cities.
 
Blinkism said:
Or why not create a whole new tourney as a Master's?
Maybe the Brussels Masters on Grass.... or the Dublin Masters....
Copenhagen Masters?

I don't know, but there's plenty of places near London (surrounding England, I mean) to have a grass masters tourney. Maybe Amsterdam (and you scrap the other Netherlands grass tourney)...

Just my $0.02, but Tennis Masters should be in big cities.
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There are very few places, if any, that can accommodate a Masters event on grass. Because of the size of the draw, a Masters series requires facilities that neither Queens nor nor Newport can offer. The additional problem is that if one these two locations were to invest in Masters-type facilities (very hypothetically), the WTA would come begging to be included (and probably want the same prize money too), which would compound the demands.
 
Okay if there was a Grass Court Masters event what current Masters event should go?

Well, not go... but be downgraded.

As I said above - I think it should be Indian Wells. There already is a Masters level event the week after in America (Miami).

Alternatively I don't think Madrid should ever have been a Masters level event. We don't need 3 Masters level events leading into the French Open - Monte Carlo, Rome & Madrid.

Monte Carlo and Rome are the events with the long traditions. Madrid should be downgraded.
 
Grasscourt master series would be nice, but don't go to the US! I've got nothing against the US, but it's too much travelling. If you want a good grasscourt tournament in the US you should do it after Wimbledon just before cincinatti and toronto
 
There is one in New Haven post Wimbledon. I agree, putting a GC MS event in post French Open would be too much of a travel hassel. Leave it in Europe, at least.
 
Okay - sounds like Halle wins

jamesblakefan#1 said:
There is one in New Haven post Wimbledon. I agree, putting a GC MS event in post French Open would be too much of a travel hassel. Leave it in Europe, at least.
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Halle then, since London already has Wimbledon they don't need another grass court Master level championship just before.

Could rename Halle - Continental Europe Grass Court Championship. Yep I like it!
 
timnz said:
Halle then, since London already has Wimbledon they don't need another grass court Master level championship just before.

Could rename Halle - Continental Europe Grass Court Championship. Yep I like it!
Click to expand...

Realistically, Halle can does not have close to the facilities required for a 1000 event....:(
 
joeri888 said:
Maybe they have financial resources to expand? It's of course not that big a city, but a 1000 event should always do well financially.
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In fairness and from memeory, the grounds are actually not that limited, but there are only nine permanent grass courts plus the main arena, where the court is laid specially for the tournament.

The bad news is that this is a very small number of courts for a 1000 draw:(. The good news is that it is a perfect excuse to tell the WTA to stay away.:)
 
I love the idea. We should totally have a larger grass court season. It would bring different skills and players to the game. You could have some grass specialists.

The grass though must be legit older style grass which is sped up.
 
Jimmyk459 said:
The grass though must be legit older style grass which is sped up.
Click to expand...

The whole point about changing the grass a few years ago was that people were getting bored out of their skulls of watching a missile-launching fest with no rallies whatsoever. It would be suicide to return to that now.
 
MarcRosset1992 said:
In fairness and from memeory, the grounds are actually not that limited, but there are only nine permanent grass courts plus the main arena, where the court is laid specially for the tournament
Click to expand...

With some work they could do it, the stadium at Halle is pretty good already too; capacity for 12,400 (about double that of Queens centre court) and it has a retractable roof which is always a plus when fending off possible rain.

I'd be very much in favour of seeing the grass season expanded to hold more significant events aside from Wimby. I quite like the suggestion of doing something in Amsterdam actually (well i liked Copenhagen more, but there's an existing slot in the Netherlands as it is), maybe scrapping the s-Hertogenbosch tourny to focus on a bigger one in the country.

That would work quite nicely with the schedule alterations suggested (RG back/Wimby forward) since s-Hertogenbosch is currently the week before Wimbledon now.

Then you might end up with something like:

RG
[If RG shifted forwards a week as well you might fit in a week off/some extra challengers]
Queens/Halle
Dutch Masters
Eastbourne/other
Wimbledon

I have to disagree with the idea of using something like Newport as a grass masters; given that you're coming off the back of the European clay season, and given that the main event of the grass season is also in Europe, it seems like quite a break to jump off to another continent just for a single week.

My only worry with the idea of a completely new MS event (rather than upgrading a long running one like Queens) would be that you might end up depleting the entry lists at the smaller grass events with people wanting to save energy for a masters having come right off the back of RG. That'd be a shame, but if RG did shift forward a week you might be able to have a week with some challengers or something with a bit of time for players to recuperate.

Long live grass
 
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