In today’s world of men’s and women’s tennis, the game’s history and traditions are constantly ignored and replaced by more modern and glamorous events. Except for Wimbledon.
The first of the Grand Slam tournaments, Wimbledon began in 1877 played on grass. Four years later, the US Open was established, also adopting the grass surface.
Ten years later, the French Open began and, in 1905, the Australian Open with both new tournaments following suit and adopting the grass surface. That’s all four majors using the grass court as their playing surface.
However, things changed and 1912 marked the first year of red clay in action at the French Open, which brought about the US Open’s brief three-year stint with har-tru clay. (An American designed clay, that is harder and made of crushed stone.) Years later it made the famous switch to hard courts in 1978.
With the Australian Open and Wimbledon now the only grass court Grand Slams remaining, the Australian Open succumbed to pressure when it opted out of the surface in 1988. At that time, it changed surface to hard rebound ace, as it switched venues from Kooyong to Melbourne Park. It switched again in 2008 to the more TV-friendly blue-coloured Hard Plexicushion.
This left Wimbledon as the last man standing; it was the only significant tournament that showed off tennis’s great history and traditions to the sporting world.
Unfortunately, Wimbledon today is almost like a museum showcasing the sport’s past. In 2012, only seven out of 64 tournaments on the ATP calendar are played on grass.
Wimbledon is the only one of those seven that can boast any decent following other than the Olympics which will be hosted by the All England Club. All of the other five grass court tournaments are 250 events, the lowest tier event on the ATP calendar.
The story is not much different on the Women’s side with only 5 grass court tournaments on the WTA schedule this year out of 57 tournaments, including Wimbledon and the Olympics.
Statistics don’t lie and we must all face the sad fact that the grass court is a dying breed. This is evident in todays playing styles. The days of serve and volley greats such as Pat Rafter, Stefan Edberg, Pete Sampras and John McEnroe’s is well and truly behind us.
Nowadays, base-liners who rarely move forward such as Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are dominating the men’s game with levels of baseline play never seen before.
This is why Wimbledon is so important. Without Wimbledon the world would never see a glimpse of the serve and volley style play that dominated tennis for over a century. It is also vitally important in recognising where modern tennis came from.
Wimbledon’s famous grass courts take us back in time to what tennis used to be like.
zacbrygel
Roar Guru
I would second that. Del Potro troubled Federer at the French and on Grass, with his booming serve and powerful ground strokes he is only going to be stronger.
Joel
Guest
I think Del Potro has had enough time to recover from his long term injury and is now able to be an extremely serious threat at the championships this year. He is probably the most likely to win outside the big 4.
zacbrygel
Roar Guru
Hi Lindsay, I also think Tsonga could trouble big 3 and break into the top 3 or 4 in the world but his problem is consistency. While he has the weapons he doesnt have the consistency that the top 3 have, or even Murray has.
zacbrygel
Roar Guru
There is a good chance Raonic could go deep into the second week. Another to watch out for is John Isner; his game is suited perfectly at Wimbledon and if he is playing well he could beat almost anyone.
Lindsay
Guest
Pat Rafter was actually not so much a serve and volleyer as a chip and charger but that's neither here nor there. The reason Rafa and Novak have had Wimbledon success (and Agassi etc) is because despite being baseliners they are such great players they can adapt to any surface and, in the case of grass, volley more often then they would on other surfaces. They're quite capable of it, indeed are quite good, but use it as a weapon of surprise and opportunity. By that thinking it's even more spectacular to watch because of its rarity. Indeed I'd like to see Jo-Wilfred Tsonga serve and volley, chip and charge, and play single handed backhands more often on grass. He's got all the weapons but just lacks the confidence to use them and it holds him back from the big 3.
clipper
Guest
The trouble with grass is that it is a lot more expensive to maintain and when it rains, takes longer to dry out. Most other courts are just about playable soon after a downfall, so it's ironic that the main grasscourt tournaments are in England! Of course, the amount of money that Wimbledon gets means that the financial burdens of grass upkeep are not such a critical factor for them - this would not be the case in less well known centres.
Malibu77
Guest
Lets hope the courts are lightning fast thus promoting the big servers (Karlovic, Raonic, Isner) and those who can volley. The era of Cash, Edberg, Becker and later Rafter, Henman, Ivanisevic and Sampras was a period of short points, good volleys and smashes and passing shots. And not drawn out topspin rally-athons. Milos Raonic could be a bit of a dark horse this year. Would be nice to see someone other than the big 3 (plus Murray) go deep into the second week.
Australian Rules
Guest
One thing the UK has in spades, is history. The stature and spread of the British culture through its Empire, means that today, the UK is the "spiritual home" to a multitude of sports: Twickenham (rugby), St Andrews (golf), Lords (cricket), the Thames (rowing), Wembley (football) and, of course, Wimbledon. History is certainly a major factor in Wimbledon's prestige...but today, as zac says, it's a return to net play, the serve-volley game, that really makes it special for tennis purists. Serve-volley is sorely lacking today as the new power game has homogenised tennis somewhat, mainly through the spread of clay throughout the world and the emergence of the Europeans. Rafa and Novak (and Hewitt before them) proved that players can win from the baseline. Let's hope we see a few big servers and some class net play this year.