Fastest "Change-Up" in Sports
The French Open to Wimbledon, clay court to grass court, switcheroo! It’s that time of year again when professional tennis players morph from clay court specialists, sliding around the dirt, to fast court whizzes, slip-sliding across the green grass lawns. The challenge for
the players is to gain sufficient practice on the grass to alter their games to be successful at Wimbledon. Given the slower pace of play and better bounces on the grass courts, players only slightly tweak their playing styles to adapt to the grass courts. Nonetheless, the footing does feel quite different on grass and the way the ball skids across the court also requires subtle adjustments.
Serena and Venus Williams have always opted to skip the grass-court tune-up tournaments, preferring to practice on their own in Florida. However, almost all the other top women do play one of the grass warm-up events. On the men’s side, all the top players tend to compete in a tournament the week after the French Open in either London or in Germany. In fact, 2010 French Open Champion, Rafael Nadal, was actually practicing in the rain on the grass courts at Queens Club, one day after winning the French Open title!
Ironically, Lleyton Hewitt, who lost in the third round at Roland Garros to eventual champion, Rafael Nadal, pulled off an impressive victory over Roger Federer 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 on the grass courts of Halle, Germany, to win the title yesterday. It was the first time Hewitt has beaten Federer in sixteen matches which is especially impressive given that Hewitt underwent his second hip surgery earlier this year. On the women’s side, Li Na, who lost to eventual champion, Francesca Schiavone, in the third round of the French Open, defeated Maria Sharapova 7-5, 6-1 for the second consecutive year/match on the grass courts in Birmingham, England, to take the title Sunday. It was the first tournament victory of the year for both Li Na and Lleyton Hewitt.
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