gerry70 wrote:

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. . . . . . . . Made me remember the dark days of Wimbledon and tennis when the big servers threatened to make us all switch off. It might not have done Tim any favours slowing the grass courts down . . . . . . 

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Were these such dark days? You'd hardly categorise Tim as a big server yet he did allright? And was there ever a conscious decision taken to slow grass courts down either? I cannot remember any policy as such being announced. What was more in mind, perhaps, was a coincidence of two factors: firstly, a groundcare need for grass that better withstood the surface damage imparted by players whose game style hinged on hitting through the court rather than coming to net - the old style English grass species, not being up to the job, hence the switch to Italian grass; secondly, a need, possibly, to provide greater encouragement to the Spanish and their ilk who had become infected by the Carlos Moya gibe into believing that grass was only 'fit for cows' and didn't really bother apart from a quick trip to London to collect a first round loser's cheque. 

I'm surmising here and cannot claim to know the precise facts either but has a myth been created around the homogenisation of court surfaces? I don't think major tournament clay has basically changed in any way.