[David_Tepper]

Watching the finals of the Queens Club tennis tournament this morning, it occurred to me that grass court tennis and links golf have a lot in common.

Both are the places where the game was first played. Remember, tennis used to be called "lawn tennis."

Now only a small portion of these games are played on these surfaces every day.


Both encouraged a style of play that has been rendered more or less obsolete by changes in equipment over the years.

[Kalen Braley]

David,

I can't help but think that artificial surfaces would have replaced grass on golf courses long ago as well if it was plausible....

Anyone have a ball park figure on how expensive it would be to install an artificial surface on a standard par 72 golf course?

P.S.  Even Football fields are only recently cost effective last 10-15 years...

[Jason Thurman]

I think the more pertinent question is what it would cost to convert a set of greens (and maybe tees) to artificial turf, and the cost that could be saved on maintenance.

[Pete_Pittock]

All of which will contribute to global warming.  The only experience I have had with artificial greens was exasperation as a short ball never reached the green and the ball hitting the artificial surface bounced mercilessly long. But that was years ago and a probably recycled carpet.

[Phil McDade]

David:


Wisconsin of all places is aiming to become a national center of lawn tennis -- courtesy of Sand Valley:


https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/sand-valley-golf-resort-offers-up-wimbledon-experience-in-central/article_a333195b-5cb4-5eea-b7a7-74a4c88ce010.html


https://sandvalley.com/tennis

[David_Tepper]

Phil -

Thanks for your post & the link. I was not aware grass court tennis had arrived at Sand Valley.

Back in the 1950's and 60's, the competitive tennis "circuit" played 3 or 4 tournaments at various grass court clubs in England leading up to Wimbledon and the same in the U.S. and Australia leading up to those national championships (which used to be played on grass) in those countries.

Grass court tennis, like links golf, was once upon a time the rule, rather than the exception it now is.

DT

[Ally Mcintosh]

Well they’ve still the same on the lead-up to Wimbledon, just not US and Australia.


Just looked at that Sand Valley link. Instead of actually putting fencing around the courts, you hire ballboys to fetch the balls for you. Only in America. The tennis equivalent of mandatory caddies.

[David_Tepper]

Ally -

I don't think the pre-Wimbledon grass court circuit in England is quite as long as it used to be. I recall it being 3 or 4 weeks back in the day. Now it is just 2 weeks.

I did find the notion of no fences on the Sand Valley tennis courts to be curious to say the least. When I was in high school I used to retrieve tennis balls for a pro while he was giving lessons. Even with a fence, those balls got spread about quite a bit. I suspect Sand Valley will fence in their courts before too long.

DT     



 

[Ally Mcintosh]

They do have Stuttgart then the Netherlands, then Queens and Eastbourne.


Couple of these are probably minor enough though. I guess you’re right in that it used to be a proper season.


I loved playing grass court tennis but it’s been a while now. They’ve gradually removed most of the grass courts I knew.

[David_Tepper]

I am watching a women's match on grass from Eastbourne. One of the commentators just mentioned he thought grass court tennis encouraged "more creative shot making." The other one said that the surfaces tennis is played on for the rest of the year have become too similar and the game has became homogenized.

Sound familiar?    

[Matthew Mollica]

Thanks for this thread David. Bought provoking and enjoyable. The similarities are striking and sad.

[JLahrman]

Ally -

I don't think the pre-Wimbledon grass court circuit in England is quite as long as it used to be. I recall it being 3 or 4 weeks back in the day. Now it is just 2 weeks.

DT     

David, it was only 2 weeks but maybe 5 years ago they added another week. So there are now three weeks of grass court events leading up to Wimbledon.


Interesting that someone mentioned "more creative shot-making"...many complaints about grass from 20 years ago about how grass was just a serve and a volley. Now the opportunity to do anything but pound away from the baseline counts as creative shot-making, I guess. But even though we'll see players at the net more than usual, the grass at the net and up the Ts won't be nearly as worn by the end of the tournament than they used to be!

[Steve Lang]

   Always preferred the natural surface of clay and play at the venerable Toledo Tennis Club (1885)...    

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