Murray, 35, is one of the most experienced players on the Tour.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray says the biggest problem players face nowadays conditions-wise is that the courts and balls “are both super slow.” Brad Gilbert, who famously coached Brad Gilbert during the American’s golden years, was discussing on Twitter the court speed in today’s game.
“All those courts were very quick back in the day remember supreme courts and carpet courts, the big problem in early 90’s with the bomb servers especially if playing against each other no points were going past 4 shots, that killed off the really fast courts for good,” Gilbert tweeted.
Murray on the conditions in today’s game
“The biggest problem with today’s conditions most weeks is the courts and balls are both super slow.
Almost zero variety. Why not have some quick courts with slow balls or vice versa? Shanghai was always a bit like this. This allows for all court tennis to be played,” Murray wrote on Twitter.
Taylor Fritz, who recently broke into the top-10 for the first time in his career, suggested the main problem is in “the slow/soft balls.”
“For me the balls make the biggest difference in speed, some of the slow/soft balls make the conditions so slow regardless of court speed. Lots of times with those balls it just doesn’t feel like tennis, there’s never a reward for taking a chance on an aggressive shot,” Fritz said.
Conversations like this have become pretty common in recent years as many tennis players have openly suggested that the conditions have become much slower and that there is no big difference anymore between the surfaces.
Powerful players, who rely on their serve and powerful groundstrokes, are the ones who aren’t benefiting at all from the changes made to the courts and balls. But because of the changes made, some feel that there is a better balance now.
