The Details Are In The Wear Patterns

This isn't really a golf post, but since I got three emails today about the ball, the power game and it's effect on golf. All seemed were inspired by Wimbledon's efforts to try and reverse the same dreadful trend that has lessened all-around skill.

While golf now has a database of wear patterns (of sorts) via ShotLink since 2003, what better evidence of the change in tennis than this post (courtesy of reader Brian) from tennis fan and blogger Paul Kedrosky.

Comments

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

Bomb and Gouge, everywhere.

It was more fun to watch Borg and McEnroe, which I did. Every shot.

[Ross Boss]

Is it me or does that wear pattern look like an arrow pointing at the net?

[Mike B]

The technology issue that is now facing tennis (and one that Roger Federer has yet to switch to) is the new "strings" ... some polyester hybrid that is still providing power with improved control, and as in golf, the players are swinging harder, with more confidence ..

[Boyer]

Remember also Wimbledon switched to rye a few years ago. The court is actually slower now.

[oddjob]

In the 5th set marathon, one player (Isner) won 69 straight games on serve, the other player won 68 straight games on serve. This is the poster child for the power needs to be backed down. Serving is too dominant.

[cold topped]

Mike B,

Played golf with a tennis coach a few weeks back. He mentioned the strings too. I think Babolat (Nadal's sponsor) produce them. They're called Big Banger or something similar. Some of the players have the racquet fully strung, others half strung.

But this coach reckons the guys (including Nadal and Tsonga), and girls (Sam Stosur), can take an almighty swipe and it generates a ton of top spin (when using a certain technique). The top spin enables the ball to dip (so it doesn't go long / over the baseline), the ball then kicks up dramatically making the return difficult. Hence, players sitting well back from the baseline. Or the better players trying to take the ball early.


CT

[chico]

I know the roll-backers such as myself are seen as Luddites by some-and personally I prefer the tournament ball route as 95% of golfers need all the help they can get.
But surely to be a great player you need to demonstrate that you are good or very good at the whole spectrum of your game.At the moment top players are tested on driving distance(accuracy no longer matters)wedge play and putting.Is that right?
Things arent going to get any better-players are only going to get bigger,fitter,stronger and better and equipment will continue to improve no matter what we are told by the governing bodies and Titleist.
8500 yard courses anyone?-No I didn't think so!

[Ludell Hogwaller]

Ky,
I enjoyed the Borg-McEnroe match also. And watching it reminded me that I used to play a lot of tennis in the early 70's, mostly to get away from the golf course.
I practiced a lot, tons of backboard work and played what I thought was a power game--until my playing partners began to show up with giant Prince rackets. Without much practice, they began to hit screaming power shots.
Combined with that orange Austrailian ball, the game changed for me. The exchanges became shorter.

Technology gave people power and control and they didn't have to work for it.
I quit tennis.
Yes, I was named Ludell, cause my Daddy was a Luddite.
Roll it back, before it's too late.

[Mark B]

I noticed this very thing during the final! The other big difference between now and then seems to be the way the ball bounces on grass. It used to be a skidding affair, now the ball sits up more. That's another reason it's harder to get to the net.

Not sure if that's the grass, the equipment or everything. The immediate explanation would seem to be either greater topspin or greater friction given topspin. Back in the day I'm not sure extreme-Western grippers got anywhere at Wimby, now here's Nadal. It must kill Guillermo Vilas to watch this -- coulda won a career slam!

[jb]

Ky the Ghost, Chico and Ludell - I am a Luddite too I guess but what if we are the future? Ky is right, watching Borg et al. way back then was much more exciting than bombing now. And as I have posted several times, my fear is that golf is going the same route, has gone the same route. Tiger ups his 280 yard drive to 350 with no effort - boring. Iron shots off the tee followed by a short iron - boring. Fariways narrowed to cow paths - boring. Roll back the ball - it's the future.

jb

[The O]

I think the golf version of this would be on shorter par 4s (say around 400 yards), how the pros take an iron and hit to the same spot over and over and over again and it turns into a divot festival in a 10 yard square area. Sure, there have always been holes like this, but the holes where this is true are getting longer and longer.

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

You bring back memories, Ludell. I dabbled in the Dark Side when I replaced my Wilson Pro Staff (the racket McEnroe used in the 1980 Wimbledon final...btw that 18-16 tiebreaker was the greatest "set" of tennis ever played) with a Head Professional, which was a light, stiff aluminum racket that allowed me to knock the fuzz off the ball. But it wasn't really more fun, and after a badly sprained ankle in late 1980, I gave up that game and took up my current addiction in about 1986, with a Wilson Staff persimmon driver in the bag, to be followed by a Cleveland Classic and then a Ray Cutright special. Yeah, I tend to live in the past. But I still appreciate that my son's Ping Rapture driver and the domesticated Pinnacle allow me to (sometimes) hit the ball nearly 300 yards more or less straight off the tee and then a 7-iron that will stop near where it lands. I suppose that makes me a bad person. Very bad.

[The Q]

Why not look at baseball.....if they allowed aluminum bats in the majors, the owners would have had to spend millions reconfiguring their stadiums by moving the fences back 10s of feet.

Their solution? Ban the equipment to maintain some level of integrity to the stats of the past and to rein in the need to alter some of the the "classic" ballparks.

No one complains about this...in fact most would agree with this prudent solution.

However in golf, no such luck, hence the need to alter the "classic:" tracks which, in the process, destroys much of their charm and shot shaping genius.

In baseball, wood didn't lead to metal as in tennis and golf. And no one could care less in baseball.

[Ringer]

As someone who played with a Jack Kramer model, a Wilson T2000 (like Connors), and a Prince, I find the discussion amusing. The old grass pattern with the wear at the T? That WAS the power game -- serve and volley, over and over. The move away from grass courts was an effort to bring more variety into the game, more ground strokes. It started with artificial surfaces, where the composition of the court could virtually dictate who would win the tournament. (I remember one expert commenting that he should apologize to Stan Smith for developing the court that helped negate Smith's booming serve and volley.)

McEnroe was a rare exception, a serve and volleyer who had extraordinary touch and flair. But I'd rather watch Nadal's game than Stan Smith's or John Newcombe's any day.

[Hawkeye]

Ringer is right. The wear is in a straight line from the base line towards the net, indicating hard serve, dash towards the net, winning volley return. BORING, we used to say in Sweden in the 80's. And even over here, where Borg is God, the Nadal-Federer final two years ago is accepted as a better match than the 1980 final.

[Press Agent]

Instead of looking at the picture and guessing what the wear pattern suggests, why didn't you just watch the tennis? if you would have you would know that serve, run in and volley was not used very much and McEnroe was urging many players to start using it more in different matches. Serve and volley was used much more in his day.

You might also keep in mind that the court was used for doubles play as well as singles, and well, you should now something about how doubles set up on the court if you are making a comment about tennis. Other than that, this is a great thread of golf experts talking about how to fix tennis, very enlightening.

[Doug]

I watched the tennis this year, and it was a whole lot better than in was 10 years ago... the ball is a little slower, and the type of grass has been changed, allowing for longer, more exciting points... not to say mens tennis wouldn't benefit from a smaller racket, but they seed to have faced their power issue better than golf...