Follow us on Google Discover Roger Federer’s comments at the Laver Cup sparked plenty of debate throughout the tennis world.
In an interview on ‘Served Live’ with Andy Roddick during the annual team tournament, Federer suggested that the ATP have slowed down court speeds on the tour to help Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner reach the final at each tournament.
The Swiss legend’s sentiments were echoed by world number three Alexander Zverev, who went one step further and said he ‘hates’ how tennis has changed to favour the world’s two best players.
Sinner responded to Zverev’s comments, saying neither he nor Alcaraz makes the courts, and insisting the conditions are ‘a bit different’ every week.
Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
Some agreed with both Federer and Zverev, claiming the ATP favour their top stars over everyone else.
Many challenged the narrative, however, including Serena Williams’ former coach, Patrick Mouratoglou.
In a post on Instagram, Mouratoglou said: “What Roger said makes sense, but it’s not new. When Roger was playing, it was already the case.
“In 2002, Wimbledon decided to really slow down the surface, too. It’s a decision of all the governing bodies of tennis.
“Wimbledon was probably the fastest surface historically, and now it has become a surface that is sometimes even slower than Roland Garros.
“We know that what we regret is that it killed serve and volley players, but at the same time, it was important because you had guys that were serving too many aces. The game was getting boring on some surfaces. There are always both sides of the coin.
“To say that it would be interesting to see Alcaraz and Sinner on a faster surface… yes, it would have been interesting to see Carlos and Jannik on faster surfaces, as it would have been interesting also to see Rafa, Roger and Novak on faster surfaces, which we didn’t see either, so it’s not a new thing.
“If we had kept the very fast surfaces, the serve of both Alcaraz and Sinner would be much more efficient, but what about the other guys who are huge servers?
“It would be a completely different game, and I think it would be really boring, because how do you return Reilly Opelka? How do you return Zverev? How do you return Shelton?
“At some point, you won’t be able to return those guys anymore, and then the game will be very boring. So I personally don’t regret that. Maybe there would have been other options.
“Maybe to make the service box shorter or slow down the balls, I don’t know. That’s the decision that has been taken, and we have to deal with it now.”
Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty ImagesThe tennis governing bodies made the right decision in 2002
Regardless of who it favours, the decision made by tennis’ governing bodies to slow down the Wimbledon courts in 2002 was ultimately the right decision to make.
Wimbledon is the biggest spectacle the sport has, and if casual fans were to tune in every summer to watch short points dominated by big servers, it is unlikely they would stick around the product for much longer.
Longer rallies are, for the most part, what fans want to see, which is why the clay-court season is many fans’ favourite section of the tennis calendar.
Sinner and Alcaraz may well benefit from slower courts, but they still dominate on the faster surfaces, with the Spaniard winning Queen’s this year and the Italian emerging victorious at Wimbledon.
It was for the good of the sport that tennis drifted away from the serve and volley days, and into a new, and much more exciting era.