Two tournaments this year?

With the roof being so regularly employed this year are we in danger of having two separate events?

Those lucky enough to get regular outings on the Centre Court can obviously benefit from the certainty their match will actually get played on a particular day and helps minimise the backlog of matches at a later stage but it is already very noticeable the effects "prolonged greenhouse" conditions is having on the court. Experts seem to think it's the effect of increased humidity making the ball heavier and slower and, therefore sitting up to be hit after bouncing. Surely though the court itself is being changed?

In effect we have 16 so-called slow grass courts and a new super slow Centre Court. Any tennis playing botanists out there to enlighten me further on this new phenomenon?

Yeah, I mean it is unusual to have an indoor grass court, anyone who has walked in a greenhouse knows that plants emit humidity, so playing an indoor grass court should make the conditions heavier and more humid.

I have to be honest Im not sure I would want to watch a 3/4hr long match in that humidity let alone play in it..Im sure it must be air conditioned but even so a bit claustrophobic to say the least I feel.
But I suppose I shouldn´t knock it Ive never tried it

Quite a few articles on this subject revealed by Google search.

Wall Street Journal, Telegraph, Guardian all have their opinions.

WSJ : http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304569504576403621816379188.html

Guardian : http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/jun/26/wimbledon-2011-centre-court-roof

Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/wimbledon/8590138/Wimbledon-2011-closing-the-Centre-Court-roof-raised-humidity-and-changed-the-ball-says-rocket-scientist.html

Based on the 'scientific' parts of the attached link ( https://www.trendcontrols.com/en-GB/Pages/EngCSWimbledon.aspx by the engineering organizations involved in design and installation of the roof), it looks like media is promoting an 'urban myth' with the usual 'global warming' style debates.

I am just going to paste some salient points, the attached link can be read for all details.

"Crucially, the grass playing surface was kept completely free of moisture. Preventing condensation, and thereby ensuring that the court is non-slippery and thus safe to play on, is the overriding priority for the ventilation system and its Trend controls."

"Further outlets push air across the underside of the roof to stop condensation forming on its surface and falling onto the court."

"The plant’s Trend controls aim to achieve an average space temperature of around 24 C and a humidity level of 50% +/- 10%, which should ensure there is no condensation on the grass or the roof (the temperature of the latter being further raised by the stadium sports lighting). Were the minimum grass or roof temperature to come within 2 C of dew-point, the controls would fully open the AHUs’ cooling coil valves to dehumidify the air – as well as bringing on their reheat batteries to prevent the supply air temperature falling too far (below 14 C). In addition, if the grass was close to dew-point, the ventilation system would revert to its start-up mode and deliver maximum airflow."

Someone commented on Rafa (and others) slipping on Court 1 and 2 due to the humid conditions on grass and these are outdoor courts with no roof?

DGT is primarily a clay player playing on the first day of Wimbledon (3rd match on CC) and the baseline is not worn out that much. Interesting, but unrelated.

If the design of the roof was not tested with 15,000 people inside, which perhaps changes the behaviour, the design engineers would have done enough calculations/simulations - which are not exact - to handle it with enough tolerances.

Also, with the roof open, similar temperature and humidity variations are possible as well. Nature calls it rain and sunshine.

Does a butterfly sneeze in Bay of Bengal cause the monsoon?

Even at the French the Philippe Chatrier and Suzanne Lenglen courts play slightly differently whch are still themselves different to the outside courts. So you'll always get differences.

What's your solution ?

Play the entire event on the outside courts ?

laverfan salient points there.

eric the chairman of the AELTC admitted that the roof wasn't primarily for the benefit of the players or the fans but to guarantee continual play for TV coverage domestically and internationally. It's difficult to argue against such financial concerns and it makes sense that the main court does have a roof but, in the interest of fairness, the differences for players are obvious. If one player , for example, played every round through the final under the roof and his/her opponent hadn't played any match on the court (a rather unlikely change of events for sure)the former would have an unfair advantage then, conversely, if it was 35C the opposite would be true.

You could therefore argue that if the final was played under the roof and Murray was a finalist he had been given more opportunities than his opponent particularly if we had a surprise finalist who hadn't played on Centre court at all.

The point I guess I'm struggling to make is that Centre court is by the nature of things a different animal from the other courts. The fact that it has a roof means, when in use, the differences are only magnified.

There is no way to change such variations.

At USO, for example, it is hell to play on windy vs. calm days.

One example that I recall is the Federer-Soderling 2009 match, which was 6-0, 6-3 in first two sets (very windy) vs. last two sets 6-7, 7-6 (calm).

Playing you first CC match (final or not) is an overwhelming experience.

laverfan one answer to all this debate - especially given Serena's outrage at having to play on Court 2 whilst defending champ - is to say the top 4 seeds each have to play 1 match on Centre , 1 and 2 for their first three matches. That way the pain of playing on Ct 2 is shared equally and it'll give more fans who can't afford the main show court prices a chance to see their heroes in action.

newballs wrote:laverfan one answer to all this debate - especially given Serena's outrage at having to play on Court 2 whilst defending champ - is to say the top 4 seeds each have to play 1 match on Centre , 1 and 2 for their first three matches. That way the pain of playing on Ct 2 is shared equally and it'll give more fans who can't afford the main show court prices a chance to see their heroes in action.

Definitely a possible solution.

The Serena 'outburst' at Wimbledon organisers is rather uncalled for. The sense of implied 'entitlement' is being abused. There are other players who can claim 'perceived' discrimination as well.

There is a whole thread on 606v2 regarding the Court 2 discussion. ( https://www.606v2.com/t7806-serena-complaining-about-playing-on-court-2 )