{"id":93102,"date":"2021-06-30T05:39:56","date_gmt":"2021-06-30T05:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=93102"},"modified":"2021-06-30T06:56:49","modified_gmt":"2021-06-30T06:56:49","slug":"legend-hits-out-at-wimbledons-major-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=93102","title":{"rendered":"Legend hits out at Wimbledon's 'major problem'"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tennis legend Todd Woodbridge<\/a> has dismissed complaints about the slippery nature of the courts at Wimbledon<\/a> as nothing more than a "beat up".<\/p>\n

The All-England Club was forced to defend the playing surface<\/a>, especially centre court and court No.1, after players complained there wasn't enough grip.<\/p>\n

The only place tennis fans can watch every Wimbledon match is on Stan Sport.<\/em><\/strong> Start a seven-day free trial of the Stan Sport add-on now!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Serena Williams retired in tears from her match<\/a> after falling and hurting her left leg, while Roger Federer<\/a> moved through to the second round when his opponent retired after a fall.<\/p>\n

"It feels a tad more slippery, maybe, under the roof. I don't know if it's just a gut feeling. You do have to move very, very carefully out there. If you push too hard in the wrong moments, you do go down," Federer said.<\/p>\n

Former champion Andy Murray tweeted that "centre court is extremely slippy" while Novak Djokovic and Jack Draper both lost their footing a number of times in their match on day one.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Woodbridge, who won 10 of his 22 grand slam titles on grass, says players need to adapt to the circumstances.<\/p>\n

"They're grass courts, they're greasy, they've had damp weather, and that's everything that grass court tennis is about. You have to learn to move on it," he told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"Yes, you're going to slip over and you have to expect that. It's been like that for 150 years.<\/p>\n

"We have better technology in the shoes and better technology in the grass. Making some beat up that it's a major problem is a waste of time."<\/p>\n

Woodbridge explained that the cancellation of the 2020 tournament is "totally irrelevant" to the conditions facing the players this week.<\/p>\n

The centre court and No.1 court are reseeded every year, making for a brand new surface for each tournament.<\/p>\n

\"Adrian<\/p>\n

Centre court is 'broken in' in the lead-up to the tournament with a doubles match between members, but apart from that, the surface is pristine when the defending men's champion opens proceedings.<\/p>\n

Woodbridge is speaking from experience, having played Pat Cash in the first match on centre court at the 1988 tournament.<\/p>\n

"It happens every year when someone slips over. You have to adjust, particularly on the centre court. I've played an opening match on there. You just have to be prepared," he said.<\/p>\n

"The reality is, had it been 28 degrees on the weekend and hard sunshine, the courts would have changed very quickly.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/andy_murray\/status\/1409950765343510528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

"Instead, we've had grey skies. The weather plays a big part in it."<\/p>\n

Noting that players needed to adapt to the variable conditions presented by grass, Woodbridge relayed a story from 2004, when he slipped in the final of the mixed doubles, with huge consequences for himself and playing partner Alicia Molik.<\/p>\n

"We were playing Wayne and Cara Black, I slipped on match point and it cost Alicia and me a Wimbledon title," he said.<\/p>\n

"I was serving in the second set tie-breaker, went down the tee, Cara got her racquet on it and blocked it back, I would have got it if I hadn't slipped, but I did.<\/p>\n

"That's a moment in time that I remember clearly.<\/p>\n

"Grass court tennis is about having the ability to make adjustments."<\/p>\n

Australia's Nick Kyrgios<\/a> also took issue with the state of court No.1, but for a different reason.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Kyrgios, whose match against Ugo Humbert was suspended at 3-3 in the fifth set<\/a>, wasn't happy that the court was slower than he expected.<\/p>\n

"For those of you guys at home right now, this should be fast. It's grass court tennis," he said. "This is slow. It's slow.<\/p>\n

"It's turf, it should be fast. They made it slow. It's not turf anymore, it's a joke.<\/p>\n

"This isn't grass anymore, start watering it, make it a grass court again please."<\/p>\n

According to Woodbridge, there's been a marked shift in the preparation of grass courts in recent years.<\/p>\n

\"Todd<\/p>\n

"The courts are playing more like a hard court in terms of bounce and speed," he said.<\/p>\n

"Grass has never necessarily been quicker, but it has been lower, in terms of the bounce.<\/p>\n

"I'd like to see Wimbledon go back to a more natural bouncing grass court. I think we've gone from having no rallies to the total opposite.<\/p>\n

"It would be great to find the middle ground to keep the contrast of what grass court tennis is about."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tennis legend Todd Woodbridge has dismissed complaints about the slippery nature of the courts at Wimbledon as nothing more than a "beat up". The All-England […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93102"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93102"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93104,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93102\/revisions\/93104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}