Today’s players finish their points from way back
Aren’t basically all athletes hugely better than previous generations as well though? Advances in things like nutritional and sport sciences mean it can’t just be the racket tech, surely?
yeah it’s probably both, and also could be cultural like strategy and technique evolving
And many people who are elite athletes today have been training hard in their sport since they were young children
Ya there are several things that go into this change. Shoes tech, grass type, how short was the grass cut, style of play has changed. If day racket tech is the biggest factor but it’s imagine there’s more that goes into it.
Looks like 1970 would’ve been more interesting to watch.
That was my first thought … would be interesting to see what current day athletes could do with old wooden rackets, was my second
1970 = Mario Tennis
Which is a lot more interesting than baseline-to-baseline tennis.
Yeah. Lots of sports regulate what kind of equipment is allowed. Maybe professional tennis should impose restrictions on rackets to encourage more varied play.
Is it the racket , the ball or playing style that changed?
Yes
Exactly. The baseline game has become the dominant form (which imo is rather unfortunate and makes it much more one-dimensional)
Or the grass is more resilient
Playing style changed to keep up with faster shots.
For a while I thought racket technology was something used to improve grass resilience, then I understood.
I have read multiple comment threads on here and I still don’t get it… they used to hit the ball in the middle of the field now they are edging the court?
Yes, probably because the new rackets allow faster balls, so it has become too difficult to try to surprise the opponent with a short return at the net.
Racket, racket is a war.
By Bedley Smutler.
It takes a child to raze a village.
I never knew tennis was played on grass anywhere, let alone an actual stadium. Is this normal?
Of the four big tournaments, Wimbledon is the only one on grass. The French open is played on clay. The US and Australian Open are played on your typical hard court.
I see, is there a big learning curve or difference when it comes to playing on grass vs a hard court? Like if a professional athlete has a tournament at Wimbledon, and they’ve only ever played on hard courts, would they be at a significant disadvantage to someone who played on grass? Or is it likely that both players will either have no experience with grass, or decent training in both?
Yes some players play better on a specific surface. Like Nadal was a clay expert, since he is from Spain and Spain doesn’t have many grass courts, most outdoor courts there are clay courts. He has won 14 French Open titles while only 2 Wimbledon titles.
Though to be fair grass courts are rare everywhere since they are expensive to maintain but they are even rarer in warm and dry countries like Spain
Are most outdoor courts clay courts? Or just the ones at a high enough level? It seems to me like hard courts are probably cheaper and require little to no maintenance. I would assume that the majority of courts are probably the low-maintenance variety.
There are differences that lead to advantages. If I remember correctly then Nadal was especially good in Paris while Murray was good in Wimbledon.
No, tennis players are never normal
never normal
So it’s normal, then?
General Knowledge wants to have a word with you
Everyone generally knows about tennis courts?
Learn something new every day.
Tell him to shove it, I already talked to Captain Obvious.
But General Knowledge outranks Captain Obvious.
Tennis apparently used to be grass everywhere, but when tennis players in southern France tried to maintain grass courts the climate made it too difficult. So, instead they switched to clay.
What’s interesting to me is the length of the grass. Apparently Wimbledon grass is 8mm long, whereas the Premier League uses grass that’s up to 30mm long, but typically 20-22mm.
I would guess short grass probably plays similarly to clay and “hard surface”. It would be interesting to see tennis on long grass.
The grass is in on the racket, it’s all the kickbacks that makes it grow better.
Become pong.
So now they know where to pave with concrete
Survivorship bias, the courts with wear in other areas never made the flight home
They play on actual grass? They gotta be cutting that shorter than a golf green lol
You sure court isn’t different?
You think at some point they would get closer to the bet to deflect it into the ground
C/tennis@lemmy.world is currently open for the tournament…
C:\tennis
Not so much evolution of grass, but differing wear patterns indicating differing playing styles.
Grass is pretty much the same.
The title calls calls out the evolution of racket technology, not grass technology.
