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the evolution of the grass at Wimbledon due to racket technology (thelemmy.club)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/mildlyinteresting@lemmy.world
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Today's players finish their points from way back

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[–] 17 points 2 months ago (12 children)

I never knew tennis was played on grass anywhere, let alone an actual stadium. Is this normal?

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  • [–] 33 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    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?

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  • [–] 12 points 2 months ago* (1 child)

    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

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    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.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    General Knowledge wants to have a word with you

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago

    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.

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