Mouratoglou responds to Federer: "The surfaces were already slowed down during the Big 3 era"
While Roger Federer suggests that the surfaces favor Sinner and Alcaraz, Patrick Mouratoglou reminds us that the slowdown already existed during the Big 3 era. A debate that reignites the controversy over the evolution of the game.
The debate on the homogenization of surfaces has been reignited in recent weeks following comments from Roger Federer, mentioning a desire by tournament organizers to allow Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz to sweep everything in their path.
Statements that were not to everyone's liking, as seen with coach Patrick Mouratoglou. The latter states on Instagram that the surfaces were already significantly slowed down during Federer and the Big 3's time:
"What Roger says makes sense, but it's not new. When he was playing, it was already the case (slowing down of surfaces). In 2002, Wimbledon decided to slow down its surface. It's a decision that comes from all tennis institutions.
Wimbledon was undoubtedly the fastest surface, and now it's sometimes even slower than Roland-Garros. We know that this put an end to serve-and-volleyers, but at the same time, it was something important to do because those guys were hitting too many aces. The game was becoming boring on certain surfaces.
Yes, it would have been interesting to see Carlos and Jannik on fast surfaces, just like Rafa, Roger, and Novak, because that's something we haven't seen either. If we had kept the fast surfaces, Alcaraz and Sinner's serves would have been more effective, but what about the big servers?
It would be a completely different game, and I think it would be really boring, because how would you return the serves of Opelka, Zverev, or Shelton? At some point, you won't be able to return these players' serves anymore, and the game will become very boring. Personally, I don't regret it.
There might have been other options like shortening the service box or slowing down the balls. But the decision was made to slow down the surfaces, and we have to live with it."
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