This sub-article from tennis.com

MEMO Lleyton Hewitt: five weeks from the start of the Australian Open, early critiques suggest that the current incarnation of Rebound Ace is already playing faster and bouncing lower than previous years.

After a long practice session in yesterday's brutal 40-degree heat, Hewitt's Davis Cup teammate Wayne Arthurs said the newly relaid Melbourne Park surface had moved closer to the pace and style of a US Open hardcourt.

This is just what Hewitt, a vocal critic of the speed of Rebound Ace in recent years, will want to hear.

"Lleyton will like it, I think. He will," said Arthurs, who spent the first morning of the annual Australian Open training camp hitting with Pro Circuit wildcard winner Alun Jones and coach Paul Kilderry on an outside court.

"It's playing a little faster, I can see that — looks like they've taken a bit of the bounce out of the court. It's tough to tell in percentage terms, but it's definitely quicker than last year, and the bounce is lower. It's getting towards the US Open."

Arthurs, the veteran of eight previous Opens who needs wildcard help or qualifying success to reach a ninth, cautioned that the speed of Rebound Ace varied greatly with the weather, causing the balls to kick and fly in yesterday's hot wind. In the relative cool of last week, he said, the change was more obvious.

"It's the hardness of the court," he said. "Probably 10, 12 years ago, the 'rebound' of the Rebound Ace court you could really feel it when you walked onto it, it was like a sponge. But now they've taken levels of the layers of the court off, and it's more like a hardcourt now."

Resurfacing finished last week, earlier than ever, with the aim of reaching a speed plateau for the opening day of the tournament on January 15, which will remain consistent through the fortnight.


Fast,fast,fast,is this a good thing,I'm not so sure?I thought it was good that we had a surface in between clay and Wimbledon.Does this just seem unfair to players like Nadal who now have a slimmer chance?I know we have spoke about speeding up the Rebound Ace before,but to the speed of a US hardcourt seems to far to me.

Nalbandian should be happy too. And Federer I guess as well.

This is mostly bad news for Nadal and I would like to see how it will benefit Hewitt now that he has lost a bit of his leg speed ( I have doubts he will benefit from it).

Is the rebound ace surface going to make a Fed victory almost a foregone conclusion in the AO? ;)

Agree with Tenez, this will suit Federer down to the ground. To me it's a stupid move, especially, if as rumoured, it was due to pressure from Leyton Hewitt. Hewitt has next to no chance of winning the Australian Open, especially as even at his peak he used to choke on home soil.

I don't see the point on making it faster. We've got the French, which is slow, Wimbledon which is fast. The US Open's pretty fast too, and now, instead of the Australian completing the happy medium, it's also going to be a fast surface. Not only does it fail to test the all-roundness of a player's game, it also means it'll probably pan out very similarly to the much more popular US Open. Roger Federer's already won it twice when it was slow, but speeding it up will reduce his vulberability on the surface. It certainly won't guarantee Federer more Slams, but it gives him a better chance of breaking Sampras's record than he had previously, which to me is an unfair advantage.

But on the bright side, if Federer does win it, this gives you one more excuse why his record doesn't really count. B)

I must say that i was looking forward to the AO as it was (though I thought the bounce was just a bit too high) but now what is the point of having another USO? At least the slow grass of the pre-Melbourne was bringing something different.

I guess it will be different than the USO anyway but how different?

I dont see the logic in making it faster. The four Slams at the moment have unique surfaces and bounces. If anything, Wimbledon should be the fastest surface but Ive heard the US is actually faster now.

Is there any standard way to measure the speed or "fastness" of a tennis surface?

I am in favor of making the surfaces quicker like it was in the mid nineties.Wimbledon has slowed down alot which is bizarre so maybe they are going to quicken up all the courts.

Will the new rebound ace surface help murray or hinder him?I think it may hinder him being able to return as well as he normally does.

http://wings.avkids.com/Tennis/Project/bounce-02.html

Hi Nick,I found this interesting,and check out the page after too.This is a study of ball/court interaction.

Hi Wise and all...Excuse me but I will provoke you a bit..Man you wrote this:

You are telling us that "it is a "Stupid move" :yikes: ??? Man how can you tell us this?

You are the man who is praying (and your avatar seems clearly to stress this point as well as your past post history on the BBC board...) for a return of the serve & volley technique (do you remember :P ): You are the man asking for having more and more players attacking, moving towards the net and follow to the serve so to close the point as quickly as possible. I.e. was not this the main men's Tennis feature during yours (so great) '90 :D ? This was, the '90 I mean, it is your opinion and you have repeated it several times :whistle: , the ultimate Tennis "era", right? Today Clowns and chokers :whistle: would never be there if more '90 style attacker Lions -e.g. Pete, Rafter and son oand so forth- would be still there in the tour, right?

Now in Australia they are taking a decision to favour player's attaching the point and to generate more troubles to pure "retrievers" and now you are telling us that this is stupid :yikes: !!!!! Come on: How can you be so double standard?

But what do you want Wise at the end!!! At the end it becomes more and more clear that the only objective you are (really) interested in is to see FED domination end as soon as possible...

Unfortunately, your (quite sad) dream is not the agenda of any GS organizer comity:

What they want (IMO and I am guessing) it is to obtain event with more fights between a defender and an attacker so to obtain the maximum in terms of spectacle.

IMO in the last 10 years, the defenders have received too much in terms of surface, e.g.: Wimbledon has become slow the USO as well and so on and so forth. I quite sure that now a lot of organizers they want to reintroduce a little bit more of speed in terms of surface so to favour the attacker and (hopefully) a great use by some of them of the serve & volley technique. :rolleyes:

Come on Wise :rolleyes: just be fair and stop to be so obsess by FED records and numbers: Either you like the attacker or the defender...Just be honest and consistent: You cannot ask for the moon and in the same time watching at the sky in a sunny day :rolleyes: ...

TV, the sad truth is that there are no decent serve volleyers in the current era. Mario Ancic is the best we've got, and he was defeated quite easily by Federer on the fastest current surface, i.e Wimbledon. Personally, I'm much more annoyed that Wimbledon was slowed down that I am about the Australian speeding up, but if you'd actually read my post you'd realise there was more to it than hoping Federer's domination is stopped. Sure, I don't want him to break Sampras's records, but my main point was actually that I don't see the point of turning Melbourne into a 2nd US Open. Although the fact that Federer's progress is being made easier obviously grates, as a fan of Sampras, and a, umm, 'not-so-fan' of Federer. I'm hardly making a huge fuss though TV, the speeding up saddens me, but nowhere near as much as the weak era.

Thanks a lot Wise I see better your points

You are always a great master of irony for sure:

roflmao roflmao

...In any case I agree the sad point is really the slow down of Wimbledon...The fact of an AO becoming a second USO is secondary IMO: This is so because in any case the (terrible) weather condition in the Australian Summer will always generate something different..

SPOT ON!!!!

roflmao

It may help henman of course

The sad thing is not that Wimbledon was slowed down cause it really hasn't much slowed down but the fact that players are so fast nowadays that it makes it look like the courts are slow.

Now please go to this youtube link and let me know if you find the court faster or whether todays athlete may be serving, returning, running faster?

Honest answers only.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avlJXU7OLis

Great spot as usual Tenez :bow: .

But I remember a long discussion on the BBC board with SportRepo Tom___ Hero Yourself and a some other (usual suspects) about that... :rolleyes:

Well at the end, if I remember well, the true was some part definitely in the middle, i.e. : the surface is become slightly slower (I remember one guy was telling us he had the possibility of playing at Wimbledon each year and he notice this change), top players are definitely feasters and sending back "shuds" even with huge serve and finally the "instrument" they are using, i.e. their rachets changed so to obtain the current on grass Tennis (I will add as well the fact that a lot of guys now are following the same Tennis schools..Less diversity on that side as well :unsure: )

To avoid any confusions or misunderstanding: I like how Tennis is played nowadays (more that during the Goran-Pete "era" at Wimbledon and this is for sure and by far :whistle: )..I simply think that it would be nice to see some additional Ancic type of players out (well even with a little bit better technique in term of volley) there, just for the fun... :)

But might be this is simply not possible simply because these guys would be always facing the defeat at the end: The style which is used the most is always the one best suited given the ultimate goal , i.e. win the match.

Players are Wise., i.e.:

We can be knowledgeable with other men's knowledge, we can only be wise with our own wisdom B)

As well as the court being slow they use heavier slazenger balls aswell which also slow it down.

When I was going through my recordings looking for the 1980 tiebreak for Tenez yesterday, I found my Roddick Federer 2003 semi final. Looking at it again, what I can't help noticing is just how well Federer was playing at net. He is far better then than Ancic is now. So for those dreaming of serve volley surfaces, beware - you may still only get one winner.

im not praying for serve and volleyers i just dont see why they should slow wimby down thats all.You dont see them speeding up the french.

I think it this decision makes sense. Last AO edition there were countless retirements, all because of the combination heat/slow surface. With temperatures above 40 C the court was no longer faster than the average clay court. Just like in Golf -the holes are stretched up further as the players are hitting longer - Tennis courts should also being modernized.
I think the Nadal fans (or Fed bashers) are being a little hypocrite to complain about this; they've said about 100.000 times Nadal beat Federer on a "fast" Dubai court..

You’re right, Nick. The fact is, the best tennis player of the current generation has chosen to abandon the serve-volley style of play which he used in his early years at Wimbledon (including a win over Sampras).

If nothing else this should surely tell us that he feels it isn’t the best way to win at Wimbledon any more.

This could be down to the surface – the type of grass, how it’s cut and how often it’s rolled and/or watered can all have an impact – the balls, the racket and stringing technology, change of stance/technique used on returns of serve, and (as Tenez said) improvements in fitness, diet, training methods of the players.

Or most likely, a combination of all of the above…

Hi TV - yes I remember this conversation with Tom and we agreed to disagreed . I believe the balls are probably slightly bigger than what they used to but the string/racket technology has largely compensated for those slightly bigger balls (Slazengers mostly cause the Wilson played in the USO are smaller) and that if you look at videos of then and now, I find the game (players and balls) faster regardless of the arguably slower surface at Wimbledon.

The key in this equation is the BH return. Look at Becker and Edberg (who had an excellent BH) and compare their returns with today's double HBH and you may notice the ball comes back much faster. Not because the ball comes to them slower (the hawk eye and the speed gun will prove otherwise) but because guys are now used to handling huge serves and know how to return them better.

I explained a few times that Karlovic's big serve can still get 40 aces in a match on grass with a normal player....against Hewitt and Federer this figure is more than halved. That is the key between now and then. There are at least 5 or 10 returners out there who can really return the best servers whereas in the past you only had Agassi and even Agassi showed he was not far off to dominate against the best servers on what some called "fast" grass (including Goran's).

So once and for all it would be great if we could acknowledge that the courts have not slowed as much as some guys out there simply return better and run faster.

Murraynator - they have sped up the FO and besides the slightly bigger balls, there is no proof that they have slowed down the wimbledon courts.

Agreed Greasepipe (no surprise there) on the fact that the AO was a risky surface of injuries. I still would like to have 4 different slams surfaces and I guess this new one will be somehow different from the USO, but the question is how different?

We shall see.

Not sure how relevant this is but I down loaded a couple of files from Laurie's site - the Lendl Sampras match from 1992. In one of the games, Lendl hits several aces that Sampras makes no movement to retrieve, and the radar gun records them as being just over 100 mph. At the US Open, in the third set, Federer was returning Roddick's serves with increasing regularity and yet they were measuring from 130 to 140 mph each. There is no question in my mind that players have learned to cope with pace over the past decade.

Hi Tenez, 10 degrees makes a big difference i guess B)
But to make real variety in the slams, 1 slam should be played indoor

Fully agree with greasepipe :ok: ...weather conditions matter a lot as well and Australia is in any case really difficult compare to the (relatively) mild conditions of RG and Wimbledon

Hi greasepipe BTW... B)

‘Last AO edition there were countless retirements, all because of the combination heat/slow surface.’

Most of the players attribute the high injury rates at the tournament to the ‘stickiness’ of the surface and the difficulty of changing direction quickly, so I’m not sure making it faster will alter this other than that shorter matches reduce the amount of time the players are on court…

An indoor GS is an interesting idea.

Hi SportRepo (How are you everything is fine I hope ;) )

Youp Great idea:

But which one should become the indoor one? The USO roflmao with the crowd they have :yikes: the poor FED will never manage to hear the calls LOL

I am joking...But the question is serious or do we create a new one...Madrid: Good idea for me :rolleyes:

This stickiness is indeed the problem, by making the court a tiny bit more slippery, not only the court is getting faster but it's also a lot more friendly for knees, ankles, hips ect. because the players are able to slide a few inches when needed

Hi TV, i guess you remember all the rain delays at the USO this year, so maybe this is not a bad idea after all

Gloria!!!

Thanks Nick BTW about this information on Borg's 4th set tie break. I tried to look for it on Youtube but it is not there.

Cheers

Covering 20 courts would be extremely pricey. I like though the idea of having one court with a mobile roof so we can have something to watch and not so many "off days" as we usually have.

Sure it is not so cracy...Still you need to find a place in which the crowd might stay calm...From that side my idea of Madrid is not good: They were able to show the worst when Nadal was playing Berdy..Schanghai? :rolleyes:

‘I like though the idea of having one court with a mobile roof so we can have something to watch and not so many "off days" as we usually have.’

The only problem with this is that it could make conditions very different for different matches and I think every effort should be made to avoid this.

Am I right in thinking the most common reason for the roof to be shut at the AO is the heat? That’s less likely to be an issue at WImbledon, I feel roflmao

Incidentally, you might all be interested to know that next week I am interviewing the Chief Executive of the firm of architects responsible for the new Centre Court at Wimbledon – it’s nothing to do with tennis, as it happens, but I’ll try to sneak in a few questions about it!

Yep, but Berdy handled that perfectly well, didn't he? :bow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPUFTajFu1g

Good luck Sportrep on the interview.

What will the interview be about? Design, how conditions will be affected, timeframe?


I pass by Wimbledon stadium quite often and the center court really looks nothing of what it used to.

Agree greasepipe..He managed against Nadal...But the day after agaist Gonzo...It was just a mess and a shame.. :cry: