Friday Backhander: Grass Hardcourts, Federer Testy

Posted on June 16, 2006

By Richard Vach, Tennis-X.com Senior Writer

Hardcourts With Grass on Top

Before retiring with left shoulder pain Friday in the quarterfinals at Queen's against Lleyton Hewitt, Rafael Nadal showed that the transition from clay to grass is not that difficult these days.

Following a quarterfinal where even Tim Henman rarely made forays into the net, Nadal split sets with the former Wimbledon champ Hewitt, making the game appear that nothing had changed about the court except the color.

Those with an advanced enough age to remember grasscourt tennis from the late '80s and early '90s recall a brand of tennis where anyone with a serve and half-decent volley went deep into events, while the claycourters and baseliners struggled mightily. Players who didn't even attempt forays into the net were rightly ridiculed by commentators and students of the game.

But my how things have changed in the 21st century.

In response to the annual cries of grass being too dull, all serves and only one or two hits per point, or maybe some perverse desire to maintain the losing British mentality and make sure the net-loving Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski never win Wimbledon, the All England Club over the years has made the lawns more dense and packed the court to the point where it is now almost indistinguishable from a hardcourt.

On Friday watching Henman and Dmitry Tursunov, or Nadal and Hewitt regularly engaging in 10- to 15-ball rallies, and as a fan waiting for the next net approach which at the current rate might not be until the match-ending handshake, one has to ask, "What the hell have they done to grasscourt tennis?"

Wimbledon has all but put down a layer of cement over the courts over the last few years, and tournaments like Queen's, which can't afford to be out of sync with Wimbledon as a tune-up event, have to follow suit.

Most stupefying is the All England Club's efforts to make things more difficult for Henman and Rusedski to employ their net-changing technique, instead making it easier for baseliners to crack passing shots off balls sitting up nicely.

"I'm personally very disappointed the way they are making Wimbledon these days," said former No. 1 Mats Wilander. "We're slowly losing the style of playing tennis which is the serve and volley. We are slowly losing that because the grasscourts in Wimbledon are getting slower and slower. I'm not sure what they are thinking in England because you have (British) players like Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski. England might be the only country in the world who don't actually try and (prepare courts to) suit them. It seems they are doing everything they can for them not to win."

Nadal is the king of clay, and has also showed his hardcourt abilities with Masters Series titles on outdoor hardcourt and indoors. Is it really such a burning question if Nadal can perform on grass, or someday even maybe win Wimbledon?

He's already reached the final at the Masters Series-Miami, which is now as much a warm-up for Wimbledon as Queen's.

Nadal and The Dark Roger

The claycourt season and his rivalry with Rafael Nadal brought out a different side to Roger Federer rarely seen by his fans: calling Nadal "one dimensional," constantly talking up his improvement on clay and his proximity to Nadal while going 0-for-4 against the Spaniard, and lashing out -- during a match -- at Nadal's coach and Uncle Toni in the crowd for allegedly coaching his nephew.

After losing in the French Open final, Dark Roger again resurfaced, belittling reporters in his post-match conference, ofrustrated with his inability to solve the left-handed Spanish riddle.

"You didn't watch?" Federer sniped at a question from a reporter regarding the final. "You should have watched the match."

His narrow losses to Nadal this year in the dirt finals at Monte Carlo and Rome were supposed to herald an eventual victory in the French final, especially after jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the first set, but it wasn't to be as Nadal again ground-down the Swiss.

"It was a pity I didn't play as good as maybe as in the last few matches," Federer said. "I mean, I tried. All I can do is try. I left everything I have out there...He makes it tough, and I guess in the end, he deserves to win."

Federer was expected to repeat his successful strategy of crashing the net at every opportunity, approaching to the Nadal backhand as he did in the Rome final -- but he didn't, and in the end wasn't sure why.

"Maybe it was the heat that I didn't come in more," Federer said. "But Rafa was tough, very solid."

In their seven career meetings thus far, Nadal leads Federer 2-1 on hardcourt and 4-0 on clay. The two will likely have their first indoor hardcourt or carpet meeting later this year, but their first grasscourt meeting won't happen in 2006.

A pity, since Dark Roger would revel in brutalizing the Spaniard, who has caused him so much mental anguish this year, on his favored lawns.

Richard Vach is a senior writer for Tennis-X.com who can currently be seen on The Tennis Channel's "Tennis Insiders: Super Insiders" episodes, and was recently awarded "Best Hard News" story for 2005 by the United States Tennis Writers Association.