Who is becoming bored senseless of clay court tennis?
- Thread starter HughJars
- Start date
leroy_sunset
Rookie
Aren't there like 3 grass tourneys? Wimby, Gerry, and then the one in the US?
HughJars
Banned
Definetly not enough...especially considering the game was founded on it.
I'm ALWAYS tired of dirt, it sucks. Bandy legged munchkins running around trying to outlast each other, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
beast of mallorca
G.O.A.T.
There are 6 Masters 1000 on HC and 3 on clay. Approx2/3 of the tournament are on HC as well, in case you didn't know.
SLD76
G.O.A.T.
hmm, yeah but there are also plenty of 500 and 250 clay events
meanwhile, no grass master , 2 wimbledon warm ups and one grass event after wimbledon
Grass courts are just too hard to pull off guys. If the tournys had grass court conditions compared to the old days the Pros would have a fit. The courts in Kooyong for the Australian open were not even level. Its just a lot more difficult to get consistency with that sureface. Clay and hardcourt are pretty easy.
beast of mallorca
G.O.A.T.
Hahaha. It's exciting because Nadal lost. Typical .......:twisted:
royroy85
Rookie
Say Chi Sin Lo
G.O.A.T.
You make it sound like other tournaments throughout the year are any faster... please. You get like 3 weeks of semi-fast in June, and then it's back to the slow stuff everywhere.
Mainad
Bionic Poster
There are currently 6 grass tournaments on the ATP world tour:
1. Wimbledon (UK, Grand Slam).
2. Eastbourne (UK, 250)
3. Halle (Gerry Weber, Germany, 250)
4. London (Queens Club, UK, 250)
5. Newport (USA, 250)
6. s'Hertogenbosch (Netherlands, 250)
Mighty Matteo
Semi-Pro
there are actually 7. that's because there is the Aegon Championships and then the Aegon International tournament
Mainad
Bionic Poster
The Aegon Championships = London (Queens Club).
The Aegon International = Eastbourne.
winstonplum
Hall of Fame
I love the clay court season. It's my favorite part of the year.
T
TennisandMusic
Guest
Err...and on grass and hard court all you need is a serve.
Clay absolutely is the thinking man's game. It requires superior fitness, consistency, and angles. Are you saying you prefer Isner style tennis?
What's funny is the notion that surfaces easier to hit winners on means "better" tennis. It just means more winners. Why not play on ice? If we did that, I could hit winners against the pros too.
Harder to hit winners = better tennis. Why? Because the winners have to be better to actually be winners. It's pretty straight forward.
Hard court is by far the easiest surface to play on of all of them (speaking from experience). Your movement and fitness can be worse because you can basically let the ball "come" to you. You can just sit back, move laterally and bludgeon the ball. Clay and grass requires much better fitness because the demands on your movement are that much more. I believe Lendl made a comment about clay along these lines recently (vertical bounce, being able to generate your own pace etc.).
This is why Sampras got his butt handed to him by a nobody in Wimbledon 2002 but was still able to Win the US Open 2002. His booming serve and slower movement were far less of a liability there. I wouldn't be surprised to see Federer lose early at the French and Wimbledon this year, and still do ok at the US, like he did at the Australian.
Clay and grass are by far the best surfaces, but clay asks more of the player. Hard court is just a snooze fest that requires less skills.
I agree. Tennis is losing big time. Check Nadal's play - standing miles behind the baseline, returning balls and barely hitting winners. Agressive play is so unrewarded on the surface. Can't wait for Cincy/USO, though sadly USO has also gotten slower, as well as Wimbly.
You are so full of it, lol. Experience my a**.
Tell me please, if hard courts are so easy to play on, and require less movement, how come Rafita has such poor results on the surface compared to Fed/Djokovic?
Bud
Bionic Poster
CC tennis is much more strategic than HC tennis. You can't rely on a huge serve and a 1-shot forehand put away. CC tennis is where you learn to construct points.
IMO, the primary reason Americans can no longer compete effectively on the world stage of tennis is because we no longer value clay courts.
Ray Mercer
Hall of Fame
Clay court tennis is where players who lack god gifted tennis/racquet skills can win by training to run balls down. It's basically a retriever's game. If you have little shotmaking ability, stone hands and little feel for the ball you can still succeed by training to build you endurance. it basically gives inferior gifted players a chance to win.
Bobby Jr
G.O.A.T.
Huh? The reason you gave explains why clay is less strategic than hard court tennis. There are fewer strategic options to compete on clay across the length of a tournament than there are on hard courts where all-court, stay-back, power-hitting, junk-balling tennis etc can all work on a given day.
By contrast, the options for winning on clay are much more limited - as history shows.
The longer rallies on clay don't make it more strategic.
tennis_hack
Banned
No, clay season is most exciting because it is Nadal hunting season. If he loses elsewhere he had the excuse that it wasn't clay. Not so here....
cucio
Legend
Clay season is not necessarily too long, but it is definitely too concentrated and thus drags too much: it would be nice if it could be split in two.
However it must not be easy to muck around with the scheduling: you need to consider surface, weather, time zones, TV audiences, sponsors...
For instance, Madrid has roofs and the driest cilmate of all the three clay MS, so it could be moved first as transition from the American HC to the European clay season, followed by MC, BCN and Roland Garros in April-May (biggest "but" would be weather in Paris in May).
Then Halle could be promoted to MS, maybe in cooperation with Hamburg to share costs like Toronto/Montreal, so we could have Queens-Halle-Wimby in June.
Then back to clay with Stuttgart, Belgrade, Rome.
OK, let's get a show of hands for cucio as ATP president.
However it must not be easy to muck around with the scheduling: you need to consider surface, weather, time zones, TV audiences, sponsors...
For instance, Madrid has roofs and the driest cilmate of all the three clay MS, so it could be moved first as transition from the American HC to the European clay season, followed by MC, BCN and Roland Garros in April-May (biggest "but" would be weather in Paris in May).
Then Halle could be promoted to MS, maybe in cooperation with Hamburg to share costs like Toronto/Montreal, so we could have Queens-Halle-Wimby in June.
Then back to clay with Stuttgart, Belgrade, Rome.
OK, let's get a show of hands for cucio as ATP president.
djokovic2008
Hall of Fame
You do realize how bitter and immature the op sounds with this, look Nadal wins most clay tournament as he is the best at clay thats the reality. As a novak fan I accept this but that does not mean that clay matches are suddenly boring I mean come on there is so much variety in clay matches this is sour grapes big time.
Rozroz
G.O.A.T.
it might HAVE BEEN once upon a time. today it's mainly ball bashing.
it's a STRONG MAN's game today.
Then they need to cut HC and put in more grass, clay is at the right number now.
Narcissist
Semi-Pro
I have to be honest, when the FO is one I often skip watching the first two sets
Terenigma
G.O.A.T.
Rome was a pretty dire tournement that lacked any real enjoyment for me, Madrid and Monte carlo were great to watch tho and the FO will always provde some good entertainment. I dont think clay court tennis is boring but it does seem to drag on for way too long, I think they should get rid of rome and add another grass tournement. It always anoys me how the grass season passes by in the blink of an eye but it produces imo the best tennis points of the year.
Rocky89
Professional
What a load of cow dung.
beast of mallorca
G.O.A.T.
So this is what being butthurt does. I love it when Rafa wins. Butthurt fans become miserable and comical !!! Funny stuff.............:lol::twisted::lol:
HughJars
Banned
Its the aerobically fit retrievers surface.
Call me whatever, but the truth is I admire Rafa as much as anyone - an amazing athlete with an amazing record. One of the best athletes of all time, along with Fed.
Tennis is great because each of the different surfaces bring out the different strengths (physical and skill based) in individual players.
Just wish it was spread a little better at the higher levels. Same amount of grass to clay to hard court. That would be a truly even playing field.
Here in Aus, most tennis clubs are predominately made up of grass courts, so we play on it a lot. Would be great to see this replicated at the higher levels.
So if you think Im whinging about Rafa - lick my b*lls!
Call me whatever, but the truth is I admire Rafa as much as anyone - an amazing athlete with an amazing record. One of the best athletes of all time, along with Fed.
Tennis is great because each of the different surfaces bring out the different strengths (physical and skill based) in individual players.
Just wish it was spread a little better at the higher levels. Same amount of grass to clay to hard court. That would be a truly even playing field.
Here in Aus, most tennis clubs are predominately made up of grass courts, so we play on it a lot. Would be great to see this replicated at the higher levels.
So if you think Im whinging about Rafa - lick my b*lls!
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Russeljones
Talk Tennis Guru
Clay is mind numbing.
Frankly, sometimes tennis in general can be pretty boring.
serve, hit, hit, hit, hit, error.
There are a few good points every 100 points.
Clay is worse.. but grass and fast hard courts can have a ton of aces, which aren't exciting either.
i haven't watched any of the clay season other than the djoker vs. nadal final... and i really don't plan to watch RG.
I'm a fed fan first, tennis fan second.. and unless djoker and nadal get into a mma fight and break each other's arms, Federer has no chance to win that tournament.
serve, hit, hit, hit, hit, error.
There are a few good points every 100 points.
Clay is worse.. but grass and fast hard courts can have a ton of aces, which aren't exciting either.
i haven't watched any of the clay season other than the djoker vs. nadal final... and i really don't plan to watch RG.
I'm a fed fan first, tennis fan second.. and unless djoker and nadal get into a mma fight and break each other's arms, Federer has no chance to win that tournament.
pennc94
Professional
To me it's not about too fast or too slow. It's that it's all similar. So similar that players don't need to alter their style of play throughout the year. Remember Lendl not playing the French to practice serve and volley to prepare for Wimbledon? Can you imagine Nadal or Djokovic doing that? They don't need to. This is why the top few players always win the majors (that and 32 seeds instead of 16).
mandy01
G.O.A.T.
You are denigrating an awful lot of players here, you know. Most of them who come in the list of all-time greats.
Every surface requires thought, adjustment (although less adjustment now that they're all so uniform across the board. Just look at Nadal-Djokovic playing 40 shot rallies on HC) and skill. Wake me up when Isner wins a major on HC. He's not even come close so far so it's a really lame argument.
Better tennis is subjective. I like aggressive tennis. I want to watch finesse. I want to marvel at the variety of strokes available to the genuinely aggressive players (NOT ball-bashers)
Except, that your experience doesn't go at pro-level.
Clay requires certain TYPE of skills. A good quick HC for example will DEMAND that you be able to volley well with reasonable if not ridiculous frequency and will reward you for it. It will reward players who have an excellent slice because they can get the ball to cut through the court and stay nice and low well enough to give double-handers all kind of fits. And don't underestimate the serve. Players like Federer and Sampras rarely have a height advantage over some of the other players. Yet they are the ones who have served themselves out of trouble the most. Sampras especially. Roger not that much, of course. And a serve like Sampras or Federer requires SKILL and fantastic technique. Just look at their service motions. Absolutely beautiful. It is a skill that gets nullified on clay but will be rewarded on other surfaces and it's a delight to watch a beautiful service in motion for many of us.
TTMR
Hall of Fame
The game is officially referred to as 'lawn tennis', and yet 1/3 of the tour is played on a surface composed of ground up brick and filth. Hitting balls back and forth and then hoping for a lucky drop shot to end the point is not tennis. This is tennis. Yet, how many matches like that do we ever see? Hardly any. Some time ago I proposed a solution that would satisfy the stalling bull, his fans, and fans of actual tennis. Perhaps with some grassroots organization--pardon the pun--we can restore tennis to its former glory.
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