Court Speed
The tournament PR machine, over time, has produced reams of claims that the US Open is generally played on medium-fast courts. As is the case every year, all the courts were resurfaced prior to the championships, but in 2020, the Laykold product was chosen over Deco Turf, which had been utilized over the past forty-one years.
The new surface was supposedly more player and environmentally friendly…and slower. After watching the Dominic Thiem-Alexander Zverev final, in which they regularly adopted “Rafa Nadal” positioning which he refers to as “about ten meters” behind the baseline, I wonder why the decision hadn’t been made to turn the hard court facility into a Terre Battue venue? It could have been touted as a “Friendly Major’s Thoughtfulness” since Roland Garros will take place September 21-October 11.
Pablo Carreno Busta, a solid clay-courter, who had been a US Open semifinalist in 2017 and again this year, said that compared to last year the bounce was higher and the court was slower. In his quarterfinal match with Alex de Minaur of Australia, Dominic Thiem was ahead 4-1 in the first set, in a match he won 6-1, 6-2, 6-4, but the first five games lasted thirty minutes and required 43 points to conclude.
Supposedly, each of the majors is played on a surface that is different. Unfortunately, for the few that remember “the old days” when this was actually true, slam play has become “slowly” similar.
Viewership bottomed out. Many factors contributed to fewer people watching. But, it wasn’t solely due to the absence of Roger Federer, Ashleigh Barty of Australia, Simona Halep of Romania, Elina Svitolina, along with both defending champions, Rafael Nadal of Spain and Bianca Andreescu of Canada not participating.
True, there was some exciting play, but for the most part, the action was like watching windshield wipers slowly remove a constant drizzle on a ten hour drive on a direct route with rest-stop signs every five kilometers. Thanks to the slow court speed there was little to disturb the view of the same scenery.
