Why the disrespect for grass?

dh003i

Legend
Just a question -- why do some people think that grass is outdated? Just because their favorite players don't do well on it?

I think that if anything, grass-courts should be made faster, so as to increase the contrast between the clay- and grass-court seasons.

It is in my opinon a wonderful contrast to have Wimbledon after the French, and the completely different feel of the play is great.
 

tnig469

Semi-Pro
We dont necessarily disrespect the grass...its just hard for ppl to have an objective view on it cuz its the least played surface...i love watchin tennis on all surfaces...it does make it interesting that players go from SLOW clay courts one week then the next week its FAST FAST grass courts...i agree its a good contrast...grass is the original surface...im not disrespecting it...its a nice surface to watch player play on....
 
If any surface is disrespected, it's the clay. Wimbledon is still the most prestigeous grand slam. Have no idea where you get the idea that grass is disrespected. Maybe you have been hanging around this board too much. A lot of people here wonder why Clijster at age 24 is not married, Nadal at age 19 doesn't have a girl hanging off him all the time. And assertions like someone can never beat someone or someone can never win something (just fill in the names you like)... So these should give you an idea how seriuos you should be about a lot of the things said here.
 

simi

Hall of Fame
The absolute, best part of grass court tennis is how the pros throw their body, extended at full-length, at shots. You don't see that on any other surface, unless the pro is "crazy". I like grass, but then again, I'm sort of traditional when it comes to changes in the game. The ATP has ruined the doubles game with the rules changes this year. I wish the grass court season was about two or three weeks longer than it currently is, and move Newport ahead of Wimbledon, instead of afterward.
 

baseliner

Professional
Grass is de-emphasized due to the limited venues available on tour. We have gone from 3 Grand Slams on grass and one on clay to only one on gras, one on clay and 2 on very different hard courts. While there are plenty of clay tourneys on the tour. The grass court season is only about a month long.
 
Travel

simi said:
The absolute, best part of grass court tennis is how the pros throw their body, extended at full-length, at shots. You don't see that on any other surface, unless the pro is "crazy". I like grass, but then again, I'm sort of traditional when it comes to changes in the game. The ATP has ruined the doubles game with the rules changes this year. I wish the grass court season was about two or three weeks longer than it currently is, and move Newport ahead of Wimbledon, instead of afterward.

I would love to see Newport ahead of Wimbledon, but not many players are going to pay the costs of a round trip ticket to play Newport instead of the Queen's Club, Stella Artois, and Halle. I have played on the grass courts at the International Hall of Fame twice when I was a teenager. Talk about low bouncing/skidding balls. I could really get down for balls, so I loved it!! There was a time when 3 out of the four major were played on grass besides many smaller pro tournaments, but the upkeep is astronomical.
 

dh003i

Legend
Well, I appreciate the sentiment on this forum, which is one of appreciation for the variety in tennis.

I also personally wouldn't mind also having more carpet matches. The more variety, the better, I'd argue.
 

jhhachamp

Hall of Fame
dh003i said:
Just a question -- why do some people think that grass is outdated? Just because their favorite players don't do well on it?

BINGO! You answered your own question right there.
 

Rasta

Rookie
The thing I don't like about Wimbledon is that the grass on Centre court is worn out by the time the finals occur. It might as well be a dirt court final.
 

HyperHorse

Banned
if you ask me there are way too many clay & hardcourt events...
we need more grasscourt tennis... bring some balance back into the game... *sigh*
 

dmastous

Professional
simi said:
The absolute, best part of grass court tennis is how the pros throw their body, extended at full-length, at shots. You don't see that on any other surface, unless the pro is "crazy". I like grass, but then again, I'm sort of traditional when it comes to changes in the game. The ATP has ruined the doubles game with the rules changes this year. I wish the grass court season was about two or three weeks longer than it currently is, and move Newport ahead of Wimbledon, instead of afterward.

I'll be at Newport for most of the week. It gets a decent draw for it's level (tier 3 I think) and it's surface/post Wimbledon issue.James Blake has played the last few years, as has Robby Ginepri. After the top 5 the talent pool gets thin pretty quickly though.
I wish the grass court season was longer too. It seems to me there should be 4 seasons. Indoor, clay, grass & hard. I realise there are really 2 hard court season now, the first begun by AO and ending with Nasdaq100 the second after Wimbledon. The grass season is only 2 weeks followed by 2 weeks of Wimbledon. The clay courts get 5 or 6 weeks in the run up to RG. I've said before Wimbledon should be moved back a couple weeks, but it was pointed out that it's current time slot is the best weather-wise in England. Maybe after they put the roof on they can actually think about it.
 

ACE of Hearts

Bionic Poster
I love the grass season:D , my favorite surface to play on, then hardcourts.Also get too see Fed kick some ass.I think guys like Roddick, Nalbandian, Hewitt, , maybe even Blake can play on the surface, u will young guys like Gasquet and Monfils as well.
 

dmastous

Professional
ACE of Hearts said:
I love the grass season:D , my favorite surface to play on, then hardcourts.Also get too see Fed kick some ass.I think guys like Roddick, Nalbandian, Hewitt, , maybe even Blake can play on the surface, u will young guys like Gasquet and Monfils as well.
I don't like playing on grass. The ball skids and stays low. You get all kinds of nutty bounces. It's a chore.
 

dmastous

Professional
ACE of Hearts said:
Depends what kind of game u have, i serve and volley.Thats the way to go in grass.
.
I have used serve and volley tactics when I lose faith in my groundies. But I prefer to stay on the baseline. So there you go ;)
 

Alexandros

Professional
I dislike grass because the points are over too quickly, though by the same token I dislike clay because the points take too long. That said, I do appreciate the historic tradition and value of Wimbledon and that grass contributes to the diversity of court surfaces in tennis.
 

OrangeOne

Legend
dmastous said:
Maybe after they put the roof on they can actually think about it.

From memory they're only putting a roof on centre, yeah? even if they're roofing two or thre courts, it's still not enough to be able to reschedule the tournament, given that the bulk of matches need to be played on uncovered courts anyways.
 

Rasta

Rookie
Without the grass of Wimbledon how many slams would Sampras have??? If Wimbledon were a hard court tournament maybe three or four less slams?
 

jings

Professional
Rasta said:
The thing I don't like about Wimbledon is that the grass on Centre court is worn out by the time the finals occur. It might as well be a dirt court final.
Well this is of course why serve volley was so popular - you didn't need to worry about the bounce so much. In fact there is grass there, even at the end of the fortnight, it's just worn down (think cricket pitch) - the roots are there. Changes to the grass have meant it is more durable, but a bit slower and the bounces better ... hence the decline of net play at Wimbledon. It's a more playable surface now with new grass technology, in my view too slow still, but I'll take any grass tournament. Ever noticed how peaceful and muted play sound at Wimbledon?. It's an old chestnut but there should be a Masters grass event.
 

jings

Professional
Don't know enough about grass to know what will work and what won't - but I'd hazard a guess that they went too far with the changes to the grass and balls and we'll see some speed return to Wimbledon over the coming years. Can't believe there isn't a clever chap out there with a large greenhouse that hasn't come up with a good combination of harder wearing grass that can play a little faster.
 

skip1969

G.O.A.T.
sounds to me as though a lot of people like grass (even if we never play on it)! that's cool.

wimbledon will never lose its importance, i don't think. but the grass-court season is so incredibly short! hard to believe that back in the day, three of the four majors were played on grass. and that tennis associations were actually LAWN tennis associations.

a masters event on grass does sound nice. the spring european clay-court season leads up to roland garros. the american hard-court season (oh wait, i'm sorry . . . the us open series. ooooooh . . . impressive!) leads to the us open. i always feel like there should be more leading up to the big show. wimbledon sneaks up on you, like your best friend slapping the back of your head for no good reason. (well, cos he loves you)
 
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