So I woke up a little tired this morning. After some reading, prayer and abdominal work out I realised that it was the start of the last Masters' event. Paris Indoors. Known for its crazy Parisian crowd, strange results and this year the added pressure/excitement with three qualification spots still available was going to make it the best ever. While watching the first match between Youzhny and Kohlschreiber I noticed the ball sitting up. It was then it hit me, the surface was slow.
What has tennis become? Wimbledon is the second slowest grand slam. The grass season is as small and insignificant as it can be and now Paris Indoors is slow? The Masters event where the big serves and big ground strokes are now replaced with players like Milos Raonic kicking his first serve and grinding out rallies. What has happened tennis fans? Why do we crave more and more rallies?
The ATP Tour is full of tournaments for rallying. Full of slow clay courts, slow hard courts and now slow grass courts. I always thought that at least we had the few indoor tournaments at the end of the year that had some speed. Some excitement. Some power. Now they have taken that from me. Its time for a change people.
If we want rivalries such as Sampras vs Agassi or Federer vs Nadal to exist and flourish then we should have change in surface speeds. The best player in the world was usually someone who could play on a multiple of surfaces. When all the surfaces playing similarly then we are not truly testing the full extent of the talents of these players.
So why have quicker surfaces? The thing with quicker surfaces is that the points are shorter. Players hit more winners, they get to the net more and their talent really shows through. I am not against defensive-minded players or their style; in fact I think they add a lot to the game. But when surfaces become slower they take away from the "defenders" ability to be fully tested when they have to defend on a fast surface. Give the people back our fast surfaces ATP. If the event at London has slow courts then I might cry.
Anybody disagree?
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