Tennisers of the World, Unite! The topspin blog

And so we move from red to green, clay to grass, Paris to London.

Historically, the transition is a tough one for players. The best grass players, like Sampras, MacEnroe, Becker, have never conquered clay. The best clay players, Lendl, Muster, Guga, have sucked on the grass. But thirty years ago, one man, one super-duper man, conquered both, year after year. When Nadal did the Double in 2008, he was repeating a feat that had not been done since Bjorn Borg. That Federer dittoed the Double last year perhaps made the accomplishment seem somewhat less monumental.

The fact is, Wimbledon made a concerted effort to slow their courts down from the 90's, when big servers ruled. Now, even at Wimbledon serve and volleying is a secondary tactic. Wimbledon slowed things down because of the boredom of an extreme fast court. Wimbledon had become a serving contest. So Wimbledon was slowed and the serve and volley became a bit of a relic. At the same time, Roland Garros has, to a lesser extent, sped up their courts. So the difference between the two venues has shrunk. The US OPen is now regarded as the fastest surface, and many claim this to be the reason Nadal has yet to get past the semis there.

Where am I going with this?

Nowhere. Just talking.