Coco Gauff\u2019s missed ball<\/a> from mid-court, at match point, a drop shot? Drop shots are hit with more or less underspin, but definitely with an open racket face and ideally hit up so they drop more vertically and not forwards (see also: underspin). What Gauff did is more properly called (by many, but not in the text books) a dump; she hit down on the ball, or we could say she was looking to just pop it over, and had it successfully gone over she\u2019d have won the point. But between her hesitant footwork (less than gainly) and the rather iron elbow shove of the ball, it was born of nerves (we all get them), [it] wasn\u2019t no drop shot.<\/p>\nYours in pedantry,
Skip Schwarzman<\/p>\n
\u2022 If you gave Gauff truth serum, I suspect she would admit that she choked on that one. It\u2019s O.K. and happens to every player. I still maintain it wasn\u2019t the worst idea. It was just badly executed. All tournament long, players had been winning points\u2014critical ones; match points in the case of Linda Noskov\u00e1\u2014on droppers. Gauff\u2019s opponent was deep in the court. Minutes earlier she had grimaced holding her side, suggesting her movement might be compromised. Taking a middle-of-the-court forehand and tapping it is a choice, but not an indefensible one.<\/p>\n
![\"Coco](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/01ky5b72akfrhghbfehs.jpg\" "\\"Coco")
<\/p>\n
Coco Gauff fell to Karol\u00edna Muchov\u00e1 in the semifinals at Wimbledon. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
Have they ever considered trying artificial grass, like Astroturf, at Wimbledon or any other grass tournament?\u00a0 It would be interesting to see what it would be like to play on a surface that doesn\u2019t get destroyed within a week of play.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Raymond<\/p>\n
\u2022 That would be a little like Peter Luger serving vegan meat, or your favorite songwriter or comedian using AI material. But your point is well-taken. The early rounds see slips and slides on fresh grass. In the latter rounds, the grass resembles a barren savannah after the wildlife grazes for a month. Why not replace it with an artificial surface that would prove more durable and, by extension, fair? The grass is so essential to the Wimbledon mystique\u2014bad bounces and all\u2014that it would fundamentally change the experience. And it would put the greenskeepers and groundskeepers out of work.<\/p>\n
More pragmatically, at Wimbledon, Queen\u2019s Club and year-round clubs, the grass experience is part of the appeal. The members don\u2019t want artificial turf. They don\u2019t want their courts temporarily resurfaced for the summer tournament either. For something like the Halle Open, maybe it\u2019s a different conversation.<\/p>\n
Hi Jon,<\/p>\n
Wimbledon in the 90s was considered boring because most points were either aces, service winners or first volley winners. There was a backlash to this style of tennis and Wimbledon decided to slow down the courts. It could be argued that there was a golden age of tennis after this (although this might have been more because of the emergence of the Big Three). The final between [Jannik] Sinner and [Alexander] Zverev was basically ace, service winner or serve and one winner. So are we back to where we started. Is this style of tennis any more interesting than the good (or bad) old days? If I had to choose between serve and volley or serve and one, I personally would go for S&V.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Any comments?<\/p>\n
Ananth<\/p>\n
\u2022 I don\u2019t know, the Wimbledon final was a four-set match with 32 aces (17\u201315 for Zverev), with plenty of long points from the baseline, various drop shots (even on the penultimate point) and solid all-court tennis. Sinner won 43 out of 145 return points. We\u2019re a long way from Richard Krajicek, Goran Ivani\u0161evi\u0107, Michael Stich, Greg Rusedski and the like.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Andy Roddick and I discussed the following at a corporate event: Did the fast grass ace-a-thon of the 90s not benefit women\u2019s tennis? Wait, what? Stick with the thesis here. While fans may have been bored watching the men engage in ace-fests and three-ball rallies, did it not help divert attention and appreciation to Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles and the Williams sisters? Discuss.<\/p>\n
Hi, Jon,<\/p>\n
50 parting thoughts and you couldn\u2019t spare one for F\u00e9lix Auger-Aliassime? I know my Canadian bias is showing, but a year ago, everyone (including him) was doubting he would ever live up to early promise. One year on, his rank is up over 20 places. He\u2019s playing much better at the majors, and what a barn-burner against Djokovic! Dare we begin to believe again?<\/p>\n
Cheers,
Susannah Murphy, Edmonton, AB<\/p>\n
\u2022 Sure, a year ago, F\u00e9lix Auger-Aliassime was No. 28. As I write this, he is No. 4. That he recently parted ways with his longtime coach Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Fontang makes for the kind of high-risk, high-reward move that suggests he is thinking as you are: No. 4 is not enough. One downside of his run: He has so much to defend post-Cincinnati. We will see what his year-end ranking is, and how he fares this fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There is so much to like fundamentally about Auger-Aliassime. He\u2019s a good athlete, has a good shot tolerance and can move. He is not the last of the tennis rip-your-heart-out streetfighters. But you could spin this as a positive: He knows who he is and who he is not. I would need to see a little more\u2014i.e., an appearance in a major final; an all-out-war win; a takedown of Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz\u2014before really deeming him an A-list major contender. But could it happen? Absolutely.<\/p>\n
Hi Jon. Hope all\u2019s well. I\u2019ve been following your Wimbledon coverage and it was as good as ever.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One question I\u2019d like you to consider for your mailbag. Why are clay-court tournaments still held after Wimbledon? What good can it do for players when the official hardcourt season starts in the US and Canada, as tuneups for the U.S. Open.<\/p>\n
Thanks and regards
Kayezad E Adajania
Mumbai, India <\/p>\n
\u2022 Thanks. It makes little sense for a variety of reasons, but there are soft weeks on the calendar and promoters willing to promote and players willing to play. There is a tour that is partially owned by players (more opportunities to earn points and rankings) and partially owned by tournaments (more opportunities to stage events), so there are few institutional impediments. Add that these clay events exist in Europe, the sport\u2019s nerve center, where most players need not travel great distances to enter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Does this bevy of post-grass, pre-cement, wait-we\u2019re-back-on-clay? events confuse the common fan? Yes. Does it make tennis look unwieldy and disorganized? Yes.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, capitalism is gonna capitalism. There is supply. There is demand. (There is little equivalent of government intervention.) And if there weren\u2019t a market, these events wouldn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n
HAVE A GOOD WEEK, EVERYONE!<\/p>\n
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