Conditions

Tenez wrote:Let's revisit your idea on Monday eve.

Monday eve is here and we are not quite done with Rd4, but let's update anyway.  Let's assume the worst-case scenario in the Djokovic vs. Mannarino match tomorrow.  Then RG and W quarterfinalists will compare as follows:

QF in both:
Cilic
Djokovic
Murray

QF at RG only:
Carreno-Busta
Nadal
Nishikori
Thiem
Wawrinka

QF at W only:
Berdych
Federer
Muller
Querrey
Raonic

It is even more clear-cut now than before - there is no comparison.  Attackers and big hitters are doing miles better at Wimbledon.  There is no way RG could have had this QF line-up:

Murray vs Querrey
Muller vs Cilic
Raonic vs Federer
Berdych vs Djokovic/Mannarino

Let's enjoy the next three rounds!

Yes. Clearly here. But did the courts look slow and dead yrsterday like they did last week? All matches suddenly looked fast....and full of bad bounces making it look for like grass of old.
Usually the second week look even slower than the first one.
Was there any of those high bounce we had again last week?

Court one for some reason always looked faster than cc.

I don't know why but it did.

Very interesting sentiment the OP.

Courts, balls, weather. Quite interesting to hear slants on the rationale for slower conditions. However, yesterday there was some zip on the courts. Take C1, Muller's shots despite lacking in real boff were zipping low on the court. Nadal was having to dig out the ball at times. Even Nadal was hitting 2nd serve aces!

Led to believe this is RG II and yet as SB has summarised (no pun) where are the dirt dogs in all of this?

Probably the treatment room given the retirements!

I am pretty convinced they changed something on Sunday. Federer says in last week interview that there was lots of dead grass and that made it slippery and I am pretty sure that made it very slow too.

I think they were concerned with the amount of grass left for the second week and watered it a bit on Sunday to revive the grass.

Clearly the conds were different from last week.

I agree on that too Ten. Think the organisers have made a tweak. C1 played like a day 1 court. CC still looked an effort to me for the players. Reminds me so much of the AA and LA contrast at Flushing Meadows. LA is quicker than AA. Just bloody make all the courts play the same!

Just look at how comfortably Nadal handled Khacha's serve and pace in general and look at how Gilles Muller, not particularly known for his ground shots was able to hurt Nadal even from baseline.

A bit more water would suddenly revive the grass (more slippery instead of this short dry hay we had) and of course softer soil meaning lower bounce.

Nadal never felt at ease.

I don't know if you read but there was an article on how they manage grass at sw18. They in fact stress it at a maximum by providing a minimum of water to keep the soil almost 100% clays hard as possible. This provides least slippery conds but kills the grass and with the current dry weather they have had, it made it too extreme.

That's why I think they had to act on Sunday.

curious how everybody talked about surface slower than ever and we have berdych, cilic querrey in semis

Can't recall where I saw it but I read that they planned from close of play on Daturday to "drench" the court in an effort to keep it alive. I think they were looking at the nightmare scenario of a massive die-off and a lumped dust bowl.

The Court looked better on telly today than it did last week.

Hopefully they give it a bit more, I like the idea of these massive guys handling huge slice.

bogbrush wrote:Can't recall where I saw it but I read that they planned from close of play on Saturday to "drench" the court in an effort to keep it alive. I think they were looking at the nightmare scenario of a massive die-off and a lumped dust bowl.

The Court looked better on telly today than it did last week.

Hopefully they give it a bit more, I like the idea of these massive guys handling huge slice.

Honestly it would not surprise me...they clearly had no choice if they wanted to have " a court" by end of week 2. I understand that Gilles plays a heavy ball but looking at his grounds shots they are not that big, yet Nadal was standing so far back....very different from that first week.

naxroy wrote:curious how everybody talked about surface slower than ever and we have berdych, cilic querrey in semis

There is some talk that maybe Wimbledon - in an effort to salvage the courts - created conditions more favorable to attacking players over the weekend.

But regardless, I agree with you that conditions were never as bad as people were making them out to be.  You could already see it with who made it into the round 4 (i.e., before the second week started) - there were quite a few big hitters doing well.

people like dustin brown moan about the surface because they are eliminated early while they do good in 250s... the thing is, this is a slam and you are not that good

it seems to me that if nadal does good it is beacuse surface is slow... and all of a sudden now that we have three big hitters in semis, and nadal is out, its all due to a magical reaction in courts, over the weekend

naxroy wrote:people like dustin brown moan about the surface because they are eliminated early while they do good in 250s... the thing is, this is a slam and you are not that good

it seems to me that if nadal does good it is beacuse surface is slow... and all of a sudden now that we have three big hitters in semis, and nadal is out, its all due to a magical reaction in courts, over the weekend

Can't really argue with that. It's one of the barometers often used by Federer fans or those who just don't like Nadal.

Brown really is that good....  and with faster surfaces, he would go a lot further.

Naxroy"it seems to me that if nadal does good it is beacuse surface is slow.."
=======================
Doesn't his 10 FO titles and not beating a seed on medium fast USO (till 2010'') confirms this?

Tenez wrote:
Naxroy"it seems to me that if nadal does good it is beacuse surface is slow.."
=======================
Doesn't his 10 FO titles and not beating a seed on medium fast USO (till 2010'') confirms this?

He beat 3 at the US Open in 2009 

However, I agree with the sentiment.

legendkillar wrote:

Tenez wrote:
Naxroy"it seems to me that if nadal does good it is beacuse surface is slow.."
=======================
Doesn't his 10 FO titles and not beating a seed on medium fast USO (till 2010'') confirms this?

He beat 3 at the US Open in 2009 

However, I agree with the sentiment.

Did he? I have a selective memory.

Tenez wrote:

legendkillar wrote:

Tenez wrote:
Naxroy"it seems to me that if nadal does good it is beacuse surface is slow.."
=======================
Doesn't his 10 FO titles and not beating a seed on medium fast USO (till 2010'') confirms this?

He beat 3 at the US Open in 2009 

However, I agree with the sentiment.

Did he?  I have a selective memory.

I wouldn't have guessed