Artificial Grass
Rookie
I've noticed on these forums that there seems to be quite the divide between those who prefer S&V oriented tennis and those who prefer baseline oriented tennis. And therefore, quite the divide between how long people prefer rallies to go on for.
So I ask this question:
What is your ideal average rally length as a fan/viewer?
I realize that it may depend on the surface or the circumstances of the match or who's playing, but for simplicity's sake, please let us know what you typically prefer.
For me personally, I am certainly a fan of grass court tennis and S&V play on the whole, but when I watch tournaments like Stuttgart where the speed of the grass courts seems like lightning, I start to feel as though there is such thing as "too fast" when it comes to court speed. Due to the speed of those courts, it's almost impossible for rallies to last anything longer than 4-5 shots. Meaning the average is probably around 2. That's just not enough in my view! Ideally, I would like to see rallies average around 8-10 shots. Sure, I want to see some quick points in there too via aces and S&V, but I can't really understand why anyone would want a steady diet of those super short points. S&V is great I feel when it's done at about a 20-30% rate. When it's done every single rally though like it used to be at places like Wimbledon, I feel like the game becomes way too predictable and there's not enough opportunities for creativity etc. It's just: serve, charge the net, get the return and either put the volley away or get passed. Point over. Rinse and repeat. That's not very much fun for me as a viewer! Maybe as a player, but certainly not as a viewer. So thankfully I'd say, Wimbledon did decide to slow down the courts in the early 2000s to increase the length of the rallies. Which I would guess is still less than 5 these days. But it's better than it was before in the 90s when the average rally length was less than 2 if I'm not mistaken.
So I ask this question:
What is your ideal average rally length as a fan/viewer?
I realize that it may depend on the surface or the circumstances of the match or who's playing, but for simplicity's sake, please let us know what you typically prefer.
For me personally, I am certainly a fan of grass court tennis and S&V play on the whole, but when I watch tournaments like Stuttgart where the speed of the grass courts seems like lightning, I start to feel as though there is such thing as "too fast" when it comes to court speed. Due to the speed of those courts, it's almost impossible for rallies to last anything longer than 4-5 shots. Meaning the average is probably around 2. That's just not enough in my view! Ideally, I would like to see rallies average around 8-10 shots. Sure, I want to see some quick points in there too via aces and S&V, but I can't really understand why anyone would want a steady diet of those super short points. S&V is great I feel when it's done at about a 20-30% rate. When it's done every single rally though like it used to be at places like Wimbledon, I feel like the game becomes way too predictable and there's not enough opportunities for creativity etc. It's just: serve, charge the net, get the return and either put the volley away or get passed. Point over. Rinse and repeat. That's not very much fun for me as a viewer! Maybe as a player, but certainly not as a viewer. So thankfully I'd say, Wimbledon did decide to slow down the courts in the early 2000s to increase the length of the rallies. Which I would guess is still less than 5 these days. But it's better than it was before in the 90s when the average rally length was less than 2 if I'm not mistaken.
