For those who doubt fitness play an important role in tennis!

Who came on OTF recently saying they could not see how doping could help a tennis player? I am not saying Murray doped here. That's not the subject but he clearly spells out how important it is to be fit in a tennis match, especially a best of 5.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/30974391

Of course fitness plays big part in tennis - it always did and more so nowadays.

The Andy vs Dimi match was very physical. Neither player was really able to hit through the other one even though both tried - especially Dimi - which resulted in a lot of very physical exchanges.

summerblues wrote:Of course fitness plays big part in tennis - it always did and more so nowadays.

The Andy vs Dimi match was very physical.  Neither player was really able to hit through the other one even though both tried - especially Dimi - which resulted in a lot of very physical exchanges.

Yep. One easy solution: Slightly harder balls to reduce spins. This woudl force players to go for more risky shots as retrieving would become more of an hazard.

How much would that neuter these slow conditions? 
Is that the most realistic change that may occur? What tennis ball make does that?

luvsports! wrote:How much would that neuter these slow conditions? 
Is that the most realistic change that may occur? What tennis ball make does that?

Slow conds are very much emphasised by spin of the ball which produces higher bounce, higher bounce means harder to hit through the ball and invites to topspin in turn. So it is a down spiral to play slow.

Harder or slightly smaller balls are the only way forward in my view. When Babolat tried to replicate the Dunlop fort criteria when they replaced Dunlop at the FO, they got the rubber mix wrong and provided harder balls than usual (2011). Nadal had a few close matches in the first round and Fed was able to beat Djoko with a great display of attacking tennis....on  clay. It was also probably federer's closest match v Nadal at the FO. Nadal had to lower his tension to recover some of teh spin..but he never felt great that year at the FO. Put those balls on HC or grass and Nadal, Murray  and Djoko will really struggle to win tournaments.

When in autralia they play during the day, teh heat makes the balls harder and this is why it is faster then....plus the ball travelling quicker in thinner air,