Officials Pondering The Use Of Artificial Playing Surfaces At Wimbledon

I am not surprised.

Just urgh!

I wonder how differently it would play.

Has anyone played on something like this?

I only played on artificial clay, very nice.

The layer that was underneath actually looked like fake grass...the nasty plastic stuff.

I really can't imagine artificial grass, though.

I see the upsides. The best football fields are indeed a few percent artificial. And you can't really tell the difference. 
If the idea is to maintain the same court over 14 days, then it could be great.  Heck, if the maintanance of grass court will get cheaper and better manageable maybe we'll get to see more grass tournaments throughout the world.

gallery play wrote:I see the upsides. The best football fields are indeed a few percent artificial. And you can't really tell the difference. 
If the idea is to maintain the same court over 14 days, then it could be great.  Heck, if the maintanance of grass court will get cheaper and better manageable maybe we'll get to see more grass tournaments throughout the world.

That's the spirit!

I just don't understand how can grass be a few percent artificial, is it a cross with stg more durable?

noleisthebest wrote:

gallery play wrote:I see the upsides. The best football fields are indeed a few percent artificial. And you can't really tell the difference. 
If the idea is to maintain the same court over 14 days, then it could be great.  Heck, if the maintanance of grass court will get cheaper and better manageable maybe we'll get to see more grass tournaments throughout the world.

That's the spirit!

I just don't understand how can grass be a few percent artificial, is it a cross with stg more durable?

You can compare it with clothing. It's a mix of natural and synthetic material. They basically inject artifical fibers between the natural ones.
I don't know if it will work on a short cut tennis court but on a football field the the effect is that the grass keeps it's density. The fake blades of grass kinda protect the natural ones. It's the 100% synthetic grass (the ones they use in f.i. hockey) which changes the dynamics of the sport drastically. Tennis should stay away from those unless they want to bring back the carpet courts. Some football clubs use them but the hybrid ones (at least less than 10% artificial) are much more popular amongst the football players. 

I think it could be very interesting for tennis, as long as they find the right balance: the feel of a natural court and the playing tolerance of a artificial one

gallery play wrote:[
You can compare it with clothing. It's a mix of natural and synthetic material. They basically inject artifical fibers between the natural ones.
I don't know if it will work on a short cut tennis court but on a football field the the effect is that the grass keeps it's density. The fake blades of grass kinda protect the natural ones. It's the 100% synthetic grass (the ones they use in f.i. hockey) which changes the dynamics of the sport drastically. Tennis should stay away from those unless they want to bring back the carpet courts. Some football clubs use them but the hybrid ones (at least less than 10% artificial) are much more popular amongst the football players. 

I think it could be very interesting for tennis, as long as they find the right balance: the feel of a natural court and the playing tolerance of a artificial one

Very interesting!
Now I know why football pitches always look so beautifully green!

Sounds like a good idea in theory, and I’m sure they’ll be able to find the right solution in order to keep the balance right.

My only fear is that artificial blades don’t become what sand is to hard courts.

noleisthebest wrote:My only fear is that artificial blades don’t become what sand is to hard courts.

That's a danger indeed. The ball sticks to a dry hybrid field. That's why they put a lot of water on a hybrid football field just before the match starts, to make sure the ball keeps "going".  They can't do that on a tennis court.
So if Wimbledon is going to do something with this, they will have to redesign the ball too.

gallery play wrote: The ball sticks to a dry hybrid field. That's why they put a lot of water on a hybrid football field just before the match starts, to make sure the ball keeps "going". They can't do that on a tennis court.

I see...that makes sense.
Maybe instead of changing the ball, players could wear better gripping shoes like footballers (not quite the same but slightly longer "spikes"). Maybe it would’t compromise movement too much.
There would definitely be no sliding on grass then (Nole)

gallery play wrote:
So if Wimbledon is going to do something with this, they will have to redesign the ball too.

I am sure Wimbledon will do it, that's where all sport is heading with sponsor/TV money.

I just hope they can somehow preserve the "spirit" of grass , Wimbledon care about their prestige a lot and like to impress, so they'll probably do a very good job, at least at the beginning.

At the end of the day, we don't want clay conditions in the finals there, do we?
I remember when I was in Wimbledon for the Olympics final, the baseline was so bad with big holes and grooves , ready for sowing potatoes! That was because natural grass didn't have time to regrow properly after the "real" Wimbledon that had finished a few weeks before.

Plus, it would be nice to see 4-5 matches on CC.