Wimbledon 2013: Talking points from Day 3

Are these courts dangerous?

Only Azarenka (in the pic above) and Stepanek’s injuries were a result of the surface. The rest don’t have a great case for that excuse

With all these withdrawals, slips and upsets there are bound to be questions regarding the state of the hallowed courts of SW19. Azarenka, Wozniacki and Sharapova were particularly vocal on the issue claiming the courts have regressed badly from last year and the doom mongers will immediately point to the withdrawal of the major names as empirical evidence to back them up. But are we missing something?

With so little grass court tennis scheduled over the year and with the court surfaces becoming more and more similar, players have tried to play too much in the mould of a clay or hard court. Particularly on the women’s side, the game has become so one-dimensional, it’s easy to understand why so many are struggling to stay upright on the slippery surface. On the chief destroyer Court 2, did the grass court ‘expert’ Lleyton Hewitt jump to criticise the court for his loss at the start of the day? No, he couldn’t see any difference to the court from the previous year. And if you look closely, only Azarenka’s and Stepanek’s injuries were directly caused by the grass courts. The others were niggles that were picked up by players over the gruelling season or freak occurrences like Isner and Darcis. So maybe the players should stop blaming the courts and actually try to master the art of gliding on a grass court if they want to do better next year.