Global Courant
Long with the 2023 edition of Wimbledon and before analyzing the draw, talking about the favorites and seeing who has the best chance of reaching the decisive instances, I am going to tell you what the grass means. It is known that it is an atypical surface, that little is played and that, many times, this ephemeral passage through the calendar causes some tennis players to see it as a flight of swallows.
The concrete thing is that the grass was mutating. And change. It stopped being an extreme surface, terribly fast, with a low pitch and with that almost impossibility of playing from the back of the pitch. It gradually transformed, with a slightly slower ball and a higher kick, into a much more permissive environment for those who by nature have the back of the field as their base of operations.
The grass poses a challenge for everyone. And not only for tennis players. Because many months, those who play extremely challenging games on this surface are all those who are in charge of putting the courts in condition – there are 18 that are used for the tournament and another 20 for practice. As it is a natural surface, a living surface, care must be taken to the maximum.
Because each centimeter of each of the courts must have the same level of humidity, the same level of compaction, the same rigidity of the floor and the exact eight millimeters of height of the Rye-grass, that very special grass that is used in the All England Club. All of this is the product of an engineering work of expert soil specialists. They are gardeners who make an art of their profession.
Roger Federer, eight times Wimbledon champion, the one who best understood how to play on the grass. Photo: Glyn KIRK / AFP.
Because Wimbledon. beyond its history and its solemnity, it stands out for its courts. They all respond in the same way. And this is far from a no-brainer. How many times have we heard tennis players talk about courts that are faster or slower in the same tournament. It is striking because it happens on surfaces that are artificial and that should be identical. It is about combining the same amount of materials. However, we constantly hear that the center court is faster or slower than courts 2 and 3. Or that they are rougher than the outer ones. That makes the pike of the ball different.
But that doesn’t happen at Wimbledon. In that the third Grand Slam of the season is simply wonderful. Because, I insist, in every centimeter of the courts there is extreme uniformity. I invite you to search Twitter for Wimbledon Groundsman so that they can observe how the people who take care of the lawn work. I also invite you to go to the official tournament page and see all the treatment they wear. They are 13 or 14 days in which they receive almost no water and they have to be prepared to resist.
Wimbledon, the grass and the “aggressive” players
The grass, later, when the action begins, challenges the players. He rewards those who seek to be aggressive. And when I say aggressive, it doesn’t necessarily mean risky. The grass, in that subtlety that it has, favors those who understand the surface. As it happens with the engineers who knew how to shape the grass so that it is all the same, the same happens with the players. They have to adjust their speed perfectly and at the same time not risk too much to continue maintaining a certain aggressiveness.
On the other hand, they also have to be regulating their career. Starting too fast can cause a fall. Sudden braking can lead to a skid and that also to a possible injury, sprain or injury. If not, ask Juan Martín Del Potro what he had there, in Queens a few seasons ago, that skid reaching the net and that aggravated his knee injury.
The grass forces you and invites you to understand it, as Francisco Cerúndolo seems to have achieved with his coronation in Eastbourne, one of the tournaments that serves as preparation for Wimbledon. His secrets are out in the open. It’s not a treasure hunt. But you do have to be very clear that you cannot be stepping on the grass with your head on another surface. It has its logic. He has his system supported by that discomfort of movements.
Because the grip does not always transmit security and that is transferred to the blows. When one is insecure when moving or in the grips at the time of execution, the blow loses firmness. The feeling of instability is transferred in a matter of insecurity towards the blows and from there it is played uncomfortable. That is why we said that it is a surface that benefits, favors and in general helps the restless, the one who searches, the one who does not want to speculate, the one who wants to attack, the one who wants to close, the one who seeks to go to the network.
The one who understands that volleying across and short is a good way to close the points. The one who understands that sometimes playing with a slice, playing from below and making the ball skate serves more than shovels. Living with that feeling of instability is a real challenge. That feeling of instability when hitting is a great challenge. That is why you play a lot with the so-called “core” -the abdominal, lumbar, pelvic, buttocks and deep musculature of the spine muscles-, that is why you put a lot of pressure on the second services and one already begins to enter the strategic issues.
Wimbledon and the art of constant strategy
Because if they are going to attack you with the second serve, you have to achieve better effectiveness with the first. But that means that at the first service then you also have to take care of it to also give it a certain regularity and high effectiveness. And, on the other hand, you have to look for a serve that bothers you. Adding much more slice to it is a good option. The serve with a slice, on the grass, deepens the curves after the kick and that makes it much more annoying to neutralize.
With all these types of situations in the service, a different idea begins to unfold. Play. To make plays. Playing to find the fun in this surface is what leads you to find a good rhythm. And talking about rhythm is also interesting. Because many people get the feeling that there isn’t much rhythm. The truth is that also in games that are defined in three or four shots there is a rhythm. Maybe it is not as extensive and it is not as forgiving as brick dust, but you have to look for a short rhythm, a dizzying rhythm, an active rhythm. As I said before, the grass in general is an accomplice of those who perhaps make a mistake by looking for it and do not remain in speculation and waiting.
Rafael Nadal knew how to adapt to the pitch with his own style and won two titles, in 2008 and 2010. Photo: SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP.
Long story short, the grass is Roger Federer. For that class, that subtlety, that aggressiveness dressed in such an aesthetic way that it seems like an art. The grass is also the intensity of Rafael Nadal. The conviction and the decision to understand a surface that is not the one you feel most comfortable with. That is why the lawn also welcomes them and invites those who by nature may not feel comfortable. The Spaniard tried to understand him and found his reward.
The grass is also that plasticity, it is that adaptation to the situation, to the spikes that vary according to the state of the grass. Just as Novak Djokovic -the top candidate, beyond the desire of an Alcaraz who arrives with the impulse of Queen’s- can handle it perfectly, who accommodates his body and hands to, sometimes without any kind of balance and against all odds, find the exact place to answer. That is the timing to know when to attack and how to neutralize the opponent’s play.
The lawn is an art. And Wimbledon is the main stage where everyone wants to play.
Special for Clarín
*** Javier Frana is a former Argentine tennis player, today a TV commentator, who played professionally between 1986 and 1997. He won three ATP titles, one of them in Nottingham, in 1995, the last tournament on grass won by an Argentine until the consecration of Cerúndolo in Eastbourne 2023.
