Dry weather and Wimbledon

So far its been one of the driest years on record in the SouthEast of UK.

Yesterday we heard from Murray that Queens is playing very slow - quote: "The court's playing very, very slow for a grass court so there were quite a lot of rallies.". I heard the tournament director say on 5Live last night this is because the sub-base has dried out and become hard.

So presumably this will also affect the lawns of SW19 similarly.
We then also have to remember that Wimbledon is even slower than Queens due to different grass type.

Do you think this change the dynamics of who might be favourite to win?
Will other players who might have not been a runner now have better chances?

lydian wrote:
Do you think this change the dynamics of who might be favourite to win?
Will other players who might have not been a runner now have better chances?

Preaching to the converted, isn't it?
The grass season is an extension of the clay season these days. So the chances of players who normally should have a chance on grass, have decreased.

Of course we are a couple of weeks away from Wimby, so there is the chance for some rain (actually the way things are going, we've got April weather in June having had June weather in April, so there's a chance of quite a few more showers). Not sure there will be enough to really make much difference to the hardness of the court bases (would need a lot of rain because it has been so dry for so long), but is there an option to leave a bit more grass on the surface to slick things up a little?

I still think one of the key factors is how happy a player is moving on grass - some guys just never get it (Safin for one) and it just negates the rest of their game even if otherwise they should be very competetive.

Not sure that relatively slow conditions will make an awful lot of difference to the likely contenders - still difficult to see a winner outside of the top 4. Might give Nadal a bit more chance though compared with the others, as that fraction of a second more he'll have to chase down shots could be the difference between a defensive and attacking response.

Agree it might help Nadal more DH, and possibly Nole too...but then Fed and Murray are more than half decent slower court players of course. Like you say its still in the hands of the top 4. I was more wondering who outside that group might benefit more - e.g. Melzer, Delpo...and what about Ferrer too?

I think the sub-base will stay very hard as it would have to downpour hard to make an impression and they may start covering up the courts now anyway as they get nearer to protect them. I think they'll always cut the grass to the same length as that would adversely affect wear and slippiness.

Queens today is clearly slower than the FO. It's close o ridiculous. When the ball reaches the baseline I can count the letters on the ball.

I thought Wimbledon woudl have learnt from last year's final and speed up the balls this time around but they seem as slow if not worse than last year.

Officially we can say the grass season doesn;t exist anymore.
Pat Cash was saying yesterday that the balls soudl be faster to allow more variety in the game.


This is going to be a Djoko/Nadal affair again.

Queens played like bowling green for the first 3 days. As the week has gone on, the grass has deteriorated and courts have played slower. Murray ate up the Roddick serve today. Shall be interesting how the Wimbledon courts play in the first week.

Agree LK, SW19 is more than likely going to be slow.

wimby get slower
FO get faster

oh.

Just different coloured-courts for spectators, same speed. What an evolution!

Perhaps IW/Miami can now jointly become the 5th slam.

Slow slow quick quick slow....

Since we are over the morning frosts, there is no likelihood of the sub bases getting softer. The top layer's springiness will depend on humidity and over night temps, but slow will prob be the flavour of the day. But if it doesn't rain at all during the two weeks, then the courts will speed up as we get closer to the finals.

So the head groundsman will have to make a decision, cut the grass low, medium or high. Not a big difference in height, millimetres essentially, but it will make a big change to the flight of the ball after it lands as the days go by, esp if there is no rain and the day temps are in the top 70F.

Then of course you have the intricacies of the evenings matches under the roof, but that's another story.