Hoping for a grass court Masters

There was a question which was prodding me for quite long. It started to haunt me again now. During an interview which Roger Federer gave after the presentation ceremony at Cincinnati masters, he was asked how difficult it was for the players to switch over from the grass courts of Wimbledon to hard courts. The Swiss world No.1 answered that it should not be a problem as most of the times they play on harder surfaces. Now that leaves me with the question for which I seek an answer dearly. Why is there no Grass Court Masters 1000?

The game of tennis is played from January to November every year in three types of surfaces. Till April all the matches are arranged on hard courts, then for a couple of months till June 2nd week, surfaces sport a “red clay” look and for the next three weeks till Wimbledon we see the grass cushioned courts. Thereafter, till November, the players sweat it out on hard courts. The cycle goes the same way every season, like I mentioned.

Even clay court season which lasts only for a couple of months hosts three ATP 1000 masters at a stretch. The Master Series starts at Montecarlo and then the players go to Rome before they finally complete the formalities at Madrid. As far as hard courts are concerned, like Roger said, tennis dwells on them for major part of the season. Whether it is Indian wells or Miami, Rogers Cup or Cincinnati, everywhere the surfaces were made hard. Even ATP World Tour finals are scheduled only on harder courts.

But, there is not a single “Masters 1000” event which is being held on grass courts. The two grass court events which are supposed to be the precursors for Wimbledon, the one at Halle and the other at Queens, have not been given the recognition of “Masters.” The only major tournament, perhaps the most prestigious of them all, which offers the attractive grass court tennis is “The Wimbledon.” Thereafter, we see no greenery anywhere else for the rest of the season of the ATP or WTA tour.

When you talk about grass, patrolling in which has been the tradition in tennis for very long, it is a real surprise for tennis fans like us that no Masters event is being conducted on that surface. Whether it was in New York or Down Under, two decades ago, every one of those places looked green. Barring the French Open, other Grand Slams were played on grass during those days. Infact, the legendary Jimmy Connors was one player who won US Open in both grass and hard courts. The grass was also removed from the Australian Open in the later part of 1980s.

The harder surfaces came into existence everywhere and now if we take Wimbledon out of the equation, tennis is dominated only by hard courts and then to an extent by clay courts. Leave alone all other Grand Slams, Wimbledon is the only tournament which is respected and revered by almost all the players as well as the fans. Even those who do not regularly follow tennis know about Wimbledon. Not many take into account the victories which a player gets in other surfaces. If a fan loves a tennis player, he would like his idol to win atleast Wimbledon compulsorily even if he has not been successful winning elsewhere.

For many tennis lovers, “Wimbledon is tennis and tennis is Wimbledon.” Many people from different countries, where tennis is not a recognized sport, even today do not know that Wimbledon is actually a place where tennis is played. They believe that it is rather the other name of the game itself. This is not an exaggerated statement by any means. There are a few ignorant friends of mine in India who do not follow anything other than cricket. However, even they would be able to tell who contested in the finals of the Wimbledon. They rate it as the ultimate thing in tennis. Like say in cricket, a batsman’s century in a Test match is valued more than that of a couple or more hundreds which he scores in ODIs or T20s, the victory which a professional gets in Wimbledon is treated with high esteem compared to his other feats.

It is almost impossible to convince a non-tennis follower that there are tournaments which are equally important. In short, even if a player holds other Grand Slams many a times, it is not seen as a significant achievement for a player if he fails to win on the grasscourt even once. Such is the credibility Wimbledon has, compared to the rest of the majors. A Roger Federer or a Pete Sampras, if they had not won on grass so many times, would have never figured in any “GOAT” debate in tennis, even if they had other titles under their belt to show they are special.

Leave alone how other perceives Wimbledon and the prestige attached to it, the fact that there is no window for grass court Masters in a tennis season ridicules the nomenclature of the game itself, if not for anything else. There are actually two types of tennis. One is played on the table which is called “Table tennis” and in order to distinguish the other, it was named as “Lawn Tennis.” The game is named so but where are lawns seen now? Is it not crazy that tennis is played on grass only for three weeks in a whole season which runs for more than 300 days?

The popularity of tennis this year at Olympics was more than ever before. Never was there so much excitement for the game. The reason was not because Roger Federer was aiming for his first gold medal for Switzerland or, for that matter, local boy Andy Murray was trying to finally attain some success in a “best of five” setter. The hype was all about the surface in which it was going to be played. Once it was revealed that the London Olympics will house tennis in the grass courts of Wimbledon, the fans tuned to the television sets eagerly than ever before to watch the matches.

Playing on grass is the very essence of tennis which escalates the beauty of the game. Every player, even if the surface of grass is least suited to him, he always would like to lay his hands on the trophy which Wimbledon has to offer. The lucrative prize money which a player gets to fill his pocket by participating in other tours will not give him the same satisfaction which he gets when he plays and wins in grass.

Tennis is a game which started to grow on grass and there is nothing entertaining and enthralling other than to see the players hitting the ball on the greenish surface. I wonder why most of the courts have got altered into faster hard courts.

I hope tennis gets back its gorgeous sensation of grass court play sooner so that we get to see atleast a couple of grass court Masters, if not more, in the near future.