Why did they make the USO so very slow?

Speed seems to vary quite a bit; sitting in Armstrong yesterday everyone was remarking how slow the matches seemed. Later, watching some doubles on courts 11 and 12, everyone we were with was saying how blazing fast the courts seemed.
 
They love Hispaniolas in the US, so that's why they do everything to accommodate Strong Bullwas. Federer, his attitude and his success, reeks too much of the white supremacist (NIMO, but who am I).
 
Gazelle said:
They love Hispaniolas in the US, so that's why they do everything to accommodate Strong Bullwas
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but I've notice that the seasoned waffle fries they sell there are less and less seasoned compared with a decade or so ago, such that you can't taste any appreciable spice on them now, an insult to Hispaniolas
 
Gazelle said:
They love Hispaniolas in the US, so that's why they do everything to accommodate Strong Bullwas. Federer, his attitude and his success, reeks too much of the white supremacist (NIMO, but who am I).
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Really? Not even disagreeing but I never even thought of it like that. Interesting. Federer doesn't seem that white to me, I mean obviously Fedalovic are all "white" but they all seem like Southern European looking dark complected and a bit exotic to Americans. I don't notice a racial bias for or against any of them, I thought people just think of them as Europeans in America.
 
HowsItGoin said:
Bloody obviously they didn't complain when he won. Why would they?

If you were going for a big job interview and they made it a ridiculous time but you still got the job would you be complaining any more? No you wouldn't. Although given your views you are a very negative person so maybe you are the anomaly.
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Yea, but that tells you how "slow court speed" is solely used by Federer fans every tournament, until Nadal loses.

Rinse and repeat.

Steve0904 said:
Just one question: What is this "LMOA" thing you speak of? Unless I'm mistaken (and I very well might be) what you're trying to say is LMAO which is short for laugh my ass off. I only ask because I've seen you do this a couple of times now.
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Lmoa is where the money is at :p
 
To balance out the Australian being faster this year? Is court surface a zero-sum game? :eek: Let's get to the bottom of this conspiracy!
 
Shaolin said:
My theory: USO officials wanted a Fedal final or SF.

They know Fed can win on any sh*t court they lay down but knew they had to put something slow and gritty down for Nadal to get through.

Who knows, their plan may work.
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which hardcourt did Nadal play best on this year, and how was it playing?
 
TheAverageFedererFan said:
They sped up the Australian Open court, which helped Federer. I think Federer should still be able to still win
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helped Nadal more, Fed beat him easier on the slower hardcourts in IW & Miami...maybe we can get this ingrained before they meet in the semis...Fed should be thrilled with this surface if they do meet, and Nadal concerned
 
ollinger said:
Later, watching some doubles on courts 11 and 12, everyone we were with was saying how blazing fast the courts seemed.
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But the matches between the seeded players aren't taking place on these outside courts, they're taking place on slow-as-hell Ashe. Fed isn't going to be benefiting from speedy court conditions on court 12. The last time he would have played on a boondocks courts like that would have been 1999. :cool:
 
Every torunament you hear this crap from the same People. Do you hear anyone ever complain about courts being to fast?
 
I think it's not really a fast/slow surface issue. What helps Nadal is a court where topspin makes the fastest and highest bouncing ball.
That said, he has proven that he can defeat anyone, including Fed, on any surface. The same is true for Fed, except that under normal conditions he has almost no chance against Nadal on clay court.
 
BeatlesFan said:
But the matches between the seeded players aren't taking place on these outside courts, they're taking place on slow-as-hell Ashe.
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1) the thread is about where the tournament is played, not just where the top seeds are playing
2) quite a few players, in singles and especially in doubles, still left in the tournament have played matches on those outside courts the past week
 
Slicerman said:
Doesn't matter anymore.. Delpo's forehand defies court speed.. :mad:
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Delpo likes hitting low and flat forehands that land near the lines, so it doesn't really matter what the court speeds are compared to Nadal who hits with mega topspin that land well within the baseline and sometimes in the service boxes.
 
captainbryce said:
Ridiculous since Venus is actually an above average mover who had her best results this year on the sped up AO, and at Wimbledon. She's never played well on slow surfaces, and always performed better on fast. They're not going to slow the court down to "help her". More to the point, Coco and Madison being below average movers would be an even bigger disadvantage on a slower court since they depend on power offense to win matches. A slow court takes away all of their weapons and therefore any chance they'd have to win. Same thing with Venus.
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What you say is true for Venus. The others I mentioned actually don't do as well on fast HC. Keys, Stephens and Coco have all had their best Slam results at the AO, a slower hard court where they have time to set up for their aggressive shots. Venus, to your point, is the only one fast enough to get in position to attack on a fast HC. So I stand by my original point that the USO was slowed down to benefit the American women, which has worked pretty well, no?
 
wangs78 said:
What you say is true for Venus. The others I mentioned actually don't do as well on fast HC. Keys, Stephens and Coco have all had their best Slam results at the AO, a slower hard court where they have time to set up for their aggressive shots. Venus, to your point, is the only one fast enough to get in position to attack on a fast HC. So I stand by my original point that the USO was slowed down to benefit the American women, which has worked pretty well, no?
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It's a net wash since all four American women aren't the fastest. Madison hits the biggest, but Venus is more consistent. CoCo and Sloan are up in the air.

By the way, has anyone paid attention to Madison's walk? Does she have a really wide gait? She bounces up and down a lot on her between the point walks for some reason.

They never show her feet, only shoulders up and her walk is really undulating compared to others. I also notice that she moved her feet excessively during points, I realize it's to stay on the balls of her feet and to be light and quit and split step, but there looks to be a lot of wasted energy.

Is it becasue she's not good at anticipating? Venus's feet don't move like that, but with her experience she's really good with anticipation.
 
wangs78 said:
What you say is true for Venus. The others I mentioned actually don't do as well on fast HC. Keys, Stephens and Coco have all had their best Slam results at the AO, a slower hard court where they have time to set up for their aggressive shots. Venus, to your point, is the only one fast enough to get in position to attack on a fast HC. So I stand by my original point that the USO was slowed down to benefit the American women, which has worked pretty well, no?
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I think people are very quick to draw conclusions after watching one tournament. I wouldn't be so quick to narrow down success and failure based on one intangible like court speed. Sometimes it's just a matter of how the draw plays out, and the quality of opponents you face. Coco Vandeweghe could have easily gone out in the first round (or the third round), and Madison Keys came close to losing in the round of 16. On the other hand, Keys won Stanford this year, one of the fastest surfaces on tour.

This is the first time in 36 years that 4 Americans made the semifinals of the US Open. If court speed was the only factor, then I would have expected to see this happen regularly at the AO or French Open, but that hasn't been the case. Serena and Venus have really been the only two Americans consistently making the quarter finals or better at ANY of the majors going back 15 years.

If in 3 years from now Keys, Vandeweghe, and Stephens show consistent results across slow surfaces, then I might be willing to consider this idea. Until then, suggesting that tournament organizers slowed down the US Open to benefit American players seems "unrealistic" to say the least.

Side note: isn't interesting that Venus is 10 years older than the rest of them, and has slowed down a half step from her prime due to her age and autoimmune disease, yet is STILL clearly the fastest American player?
 
Madison Keys definitely has potential and is good in all areas and just needs to polish things up a bit. I would like to see more Americans come to the net like Venus to round out their game. Hanging out at the baseline only works if you can hit super hard like Serena. Venus who hits almost as hard as her sister knows that and goes forward more, but she's thinner and doesn't mind running unlike Serena who's packed on more weight over the years. It'll be really interesting to see what kind of shape she's in when she returns. Azarenka looks no different, but she's always been slender.
 
125downthemiddle said:
Really? Not even disagreeing but I never even thought of it like that. Interesting. Federer doesn't seem that white to me, I mean obviously Fedalovic are all "white" but they all seem like Southern European looking dark complected and a bit exotic to Americans. I don't notice a racial bias for or against any of them, I thought people just think of them as Europeans in America.
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There's some truth to this because most Americans are of British extraction like Murray, so few can tan. Players like Fed, Nadal and Djoko all seem exotic because they're from areas of Europe unfamiliar to most Americans and they can tan more.
 
captainbryce said:
Side note: isn't interesting that Venus is 10 years older than the rest of them, and has slowed down a half step from her prime due to her age and autoimmune disease, yet is STILL clearly the fastest American player?
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Fully agree that one tournament isn't sufficient evidence. Was just my own view that the American women would benefit from a slower surface, rightly or wrongly.

Below avg movement seems to be the defining characteristic of American players over the last decade and a half although there are exceptions. It's probably the single biggest reason why we cannot produce champions anymore (outside of the Williams sisters).
 
a 39-year-old with a suspect backhand winning three slams in a year would damage the reputation beyond repair, so the powers that be stepped up. Bribed his masseuse to do some freaky moves and added a 5-inch layer of sand on top of the courts. Shameful.
 
Incognito said:
Rafa has 3 canadian titles vs 0 Miami titles.

2 USO vs 1 AO

:eek:
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I don't quite agree with that. It's more about circumstances!
AO, he was more unlucky while he was lucky at US open. Rafa has three finals lost at AO, got hampered at the wrong moment against Stan in 2014, was a break up in the last set in 2012 and 2017. At the same time, he played Novak Djokovic thrice in US finals. Each time Novak came after massive battles while Rafa had a relaxed schedule.

A better comparison would be Cincy versus Miami. He won Cinci once but that was the only time he reached the final there. He reached Miami final five times and lost to Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer both better hard court players than him. He was more consistent in Miami than Cincy
 
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