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Immaculate as the lawns of the All England club may be, their continuing use as a surface for playing tennis is a matter of growing debate.
Clay court players have always hated the way the ball comes off grass so fast and low, and while ordinary mortals can get over a bad bounce and go on to lead normal lives, you sometimes wonder about the pro players.
They used to say about the great Argentine Guillermo Vilas that he played on grass like he’d been smoking it — and a whole host of of clay and all-weather court specialists have had real problems with the annual switch in the last week of June to the Wimbledon lawns.
Is it time for Wimbledon to stop holding out as the only Grand Slam event left on grass? Or is there room for a variety of surfaces in tennis?
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Clearly Grass Courts are a diminishing sight on the tours with players typically playing no more than 3 tournaments on the surface including Wimbledon.
Wimbledon has always been a tournament that holds its traditions in the highest regard and while other tournaments evolve to gather additional sponsorship, gate recepits and TV revenue Wimbledon has remanied in the past.
I am fairly certain the organisers attitude to non-grass Wimbledon would be ‘over my dead body’
Personally I’d like to see the tournament opened up, have an all weather surface that reacts in a similar mannor to grass, have evening tennis which would open up to greater TV and sponsorhip. In time larger stadium courts could be built that would match up to Roland Garos and Flushing Meadows.
More tournaments could be attracted to Britain and interest would be even greater. Wimbledon is stuck in the past and the ATP clearly want as little to do with it as possible. No Masters events in the UK and as few weeks as possible on these shores tell us all we need to know.
A seat at the centre court of Wimbledon is very much something for English upper classes and that again is something that should change. A total change in the direction from the organisers is requried or else even the sentimetal revenue that Wimbledon enjoys will be lost!
- Posted by Grant