Over the years we have heard Henman complain about the grass, the balls etc at Wimbledon. Last night here in the States the Tennis Channel showed extended highlights from the 1999 Queens Final between Henman & Sampras. The net rushing tennis was amazing, breathtakingly good. It was an amazing match between two grass court kings. Sampras said afterwards that Britain should be proud of Henman and that one day Henman would win Wimbledon.
To see Henman taken out by a Spanish clay court player (even though Tim is now older and he was tired etc), then Nadal play Fed so close today, to see Hewitt win from the back against another clay court player in 2002, I can't help but conclude that Henman is right.
My problem is that I'd love to see tennis like the 1999 Queens Final again. I don't want to see it everywhere at every tourney. I understand that the S & V game won't work on Clay, but how I miss watching the likes of Sampras, Rafter, Flip, Henman, Martin & Greg on grass. I am not sure if it is the racquets, the balls or the grass, but something is missing that spoils the game on grass. Although, today's final was amazing, apart from in the fourth when it looked like Fed has not had enough practice at the net.....shame that.
As for Tim, how I wish the conditions had allowed him to come closer to fulfilling Sampras predictions.
I wouldn't describe Lopez as a clay courter. He has a big serve, has made the quarters of Wimbledon before and says himself that he loves playing on grass.
Still, you have a good point. I think the grass has slowed down a bit, but the biggest thing has been the advances in racket technology. It's now so much easier to produce spectacular looking passing shots. It's a shame that our game has changed so much and I think it's almost impossible to go back to how it was.
I think there has been a general "universification" (if that's even a word) of all the surfaces. Grass has slowed down, hard courts have slowed down and is it just me or is the clay slightly faster than it used to be? It's like all the surfaces are heading towards a middle ground where we start to lose the players from the top of the game who have "specialist" games, especially the serve volley specialists. Almost every player in the top 50 these days is a baseline grinder, willing to run up and down all day hitting winners or errors from the back to decide points. I think the only truly fast surface that remains is a genuinely quick indoor carpet surface.
Will be interesting to hear other's views.
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Of all tyrannies a tyranny exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive.... those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience
Lopez's Wimbledon run a couple of years ago was amazing as I he took out both Safin and Ancic, but in the old days Henman would be chipping to his backhand and waiting for the easy volley at the net. That was my point, now the ball sits up, is not so fast and a pass is made. It sure hit me the change in Henman's game between playing Sampras in 99 and playing Lopez last week.
There is a lot of tennis played on slow clay, but Roland Garros is said to be far faster than what it was a decade ago.
Some reports went on to say that last year in the first week, it was like playing on the hard courts of the US Open! That I don't agree with, by the way.
People of my age can certainly see that tennis has changed! Arka - I love your quotation - who is it from? And why don't we see you on am.com these days?
People of my age can certainly see that tennis has changed! Arka - I love your quotation - who is it from? And why don't we see you on am.com these days?
Thanks! Sadly I can't track back to the person who created that. I first read it on some site last month and loved it.
