A long shot on grass

Will Roger Federer grab an eighth Wimbledon, after lifting the Halle grass court trophy for the seventh time this year?

Tennis grand slam players have had only two weeks to transition from clay at the French Open to the grass surface at the ongoing Wimbledon (till July 6). This gap will be increased to three weeks from next year to help players adjust better to the surface change.

Grass, once the mainstay of tennis courts everywhere but increasingly rare, is the fastest surface with the ball bouncing to knee-level. On hard courts, it could be between the knee and the shoulder, and on clay courts it is above the shoulder. This makes the play technique on grass different from that on other surfaces it is relatively more aggressive.

Slowdown on grass

Points in Wimbledon were scored quickly in the past. Champions Boris Becker and Pete Sampras, for instance, would win a point with four or five shots. Now long rallies are seen more often. TV channels flash the number of shots when a rally is long. The slowing of the games with longer rallies is meant to promote the entertainment value of the sport. Eminent commentators, once leading players themselves, have said the grass is different from how it was in the past and the balls are heavier, contributing to the slower pace. Many are calling it the homogenisation of surfaces faster courts becoming slower.

In tennis history, only six players have made a successful transition from clay to grass, winning the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back Rene Lacoste (1925), Fred Perry (1935), Budge Patty (1950), Bjorn Borg (1978, 1979 and 1980), Rafael Nadal (2008 and 2010) and Roger Federer (2009). It is called the Channel Slam.

Warm-up to Wimbledon

In the fortnight between the two Slams, there are four grass court warm-up tournaments for men, of which the ones at Queens Club, London, and Halle in Germany are especially patronised by leading players. But the probability of these finalists winning the Wimbledon is not high as happens in the Rome Masters vis--vis the French Open. All the top players participate in the Rome Masters, played on clay.

In the warm-up to Wimbledon, however, the high-ranked players are divided between London and Halle. Since 2000 only Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Murray have won back-to-back at Queens Club (called Aegon Championship) and Wimbledon. This year, Grigor Dimitrov was the champion in London, while it was Roger Federer in Germany. Dimitrov became a sensation after beating Alexandr Dolgopolov, Stanislas Wawrinka and Feliciano Lpez Daz-Guerra.

According to the draw, and going by the seeding, the quarter-final line-up in Wimbledon is likely to be: Novak Djokovic-Tom Berdych, Murray-David Ferrer, Wawrinka-Federer, and Milos Raonic-Nadal. Till a few years ago, Djokovic, Murray, Federer and Nadal constituted the quartet in Grand Slam semifinals. That quartets grip has loosened in more recent times.

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A long shot on grass