Scintillating grass court tennis

[Mainsacross]

From two of the not so usual suspects:

In celebration of the handsomest man in tennis (cue the randy Judy Murray gifs people) finally getting over the victory line at Queen's, here's a match where he came heart-breakingly close but just couldn't close. Most of the action is fast paced with points ending with 2-3 shots at most. But the meat of the match contains some nail bitingly tense rallies, and jaw dropping shot making and volleying. In particular, watch the close of the 2nd set when Dimitrov escapes a few match points and overcomes a terrible line call to rally and take the match to the third set with a dominant tie-break display.

Both players serve lights out, Dimi has the edge on the ground but Feliciano makes up with clutch serving and volleying, and a tactical approach that is second to none. Watch how Feli defends his weak backhand side with volleys that move Dimitrov around the court, and constrain him as much as possible to the ad side to prevent him from setting up his powerful forehand. The fact that both players are somewhat mentally weak makes them perfectly matched. If one of the two were less fragile, the match wouldn't be poised on such a precipice. I highly recommend watching it from start to finish for maximum impact.

 

[BringBackWood]

Agree completely, such a great match. I was on holiday but so glad I stayed in to watch it. This is what typical grass court tennis should be like. The antithesis of this is the baseline slug Wimbledon 2013 final for example. That shouldn't be grass court tennis!

 

[tennisaddict]

It was very exciting match as well in addition to being a good exhibition for grass court tennis . Made up for Zed's disappointing show earlier

 

[Mainsacross]

It was very exciting match as well in addition to being a good exhibition for grass court tennis . Made up for Zed's disappointing show earlier

Sounds like Z's loss was a big upset in these parts. Some were using elaborate statistical methods to show how grandpa had no chance against young gun. The match in this thread showed a much closer contest between another grandpa and youngster, both playing like veterans.

 

[Mainad]

The final scoreline kind of said it all: 6-7,7-6,7-6. This year's scoreline was not far different.

 

[kabob]

Don't ya worry none Grigolo, Judy Moo's got a consolation prize for ya now that Deliciano's escaped her clutches.

 

[metsman]

Queens has produced some great tennis in recent years. They could at least make Wimbledon close to that speed or what it was around 03-04, even if pre 02 speed will never be possible due to racket tech.

 

[BringBackWood]

Queens has produced some great tennis in recent years. They could at least make Wimbledon close to that speed or what it was around 03-04, even if pre 02 speed will never be possible due to racket tech.

That's why only true solution is to limit the racket tech. With all the ghastly changes being proposed to make tennis more entertaining, racket tech is being ignored. Wouldn't it be great if they devised tech limits and went back to the full variety of court surfaces, which itself is only feasible when you limit the tech. It is no exaggeration in my book to say this is the root of all problems in tennis and these other proposals to shorten tennis are just papering over cracks

 

[el sergento]

Coming soon: The Lopez-Dimitrov school for kids that can't play tennis good and want to do other stuff good too!.

 

[Mainsacross]

That's why only true solution is to limit the racket tech. With all the ghastly changes being proposed to make tennis more entertaining, racket tech is being ignored. Wouldn't it be great if they devised tech limits and went back to the full variety of court surfaces, which itself is only feasible when you limit the tech. It is no exaggeration in my book to say this is the root of all problems in tennis and these other proposals to shorten tennis are just papering over cracks with porous material.

How would you restrict racquet tech? I think the strings are really the big difference. Racquets haven't changed all that drastically since the 90s, have they? Sure, the average head size is bigger but that's about it. All the space age racquet materials are just made-up, marketing BS.

 

[ibbi]

That whole tournament that year was so good, and it for sure got a final to remember. Would have been heartbreaking for Feli to lose two of those close epic ones, so I'm really, really happy he got over the line yesterday.

 

[BringBackWood]

How would you restrict racquet tech? I think the strings are really the big difference. Racquets haven't changed all that drastically since the 90s, have they? Sure, the average head size is bigger but that's about it. All the space age racquet materials are just made-up, marketing BS.

Yeah sorry I meant strings, although also reduce racket head size.

 

[Mainsacross]

Yeah sorry I meant strings, although also reduce racket head size.

Personally, I would prefer more variety of court surfaces instead of restrictions to poly string use. An interesting solution would be to tie string restrictions to court surface. Banning poly strings on fast surfaces to encourage more of an all-court game, approach-and-attack-friendly game while allowing them on clay and slow hard to encourage grinding.

 

[BringBackWood]

Personally, I would prefer more variety of court surfaces instead of restrictions to poly string use. An interesting solution would be to tie string restrictions to court surface. Banning poly strings on fast surfaces to encourage more of an all-court game, approach-and-attack-friendly game while allowing them on clay and slow hard to encourage grinding.

You can still grind with old rackets. Borg used to have 50 shot rallies at the French. Less powerful rackets surely mean more difficult to hit winner from back of court.

 

[Mainsacross]

You can still grind with old rackets. Borg used to have 50 shot rallies at the French. Less powerful rackets surely mean more difficult to hit winner from back of court.

Borg had 50 shot rallies but those rallies were carried on at a much lower pace and spin level compared to today's rallies. I just don't think that you can put the power/spin genie back in the bottle. Now that people are used to the new level of athleticism and the winners from all parts of the court, it's doubtful pro tennis can go back to the slower rallies of the past.

 

[BringBackWood]

Borg had 50 shot rallies but those rallies were carried on at a much lower pace and spin level compared to today's rallies. I just don't think that you can put the power/spin genie back in the bottle. Now that people are used to the new level of athleticism and the winners from all parts of the court, it's doubtful pro tennis can go back to the slower rallies of the past.

Yes I am in favour of an intermediary solution. 80's rackets would seem ok for both purposes.