Wimbledon 2024, Grass Tennis
View(s):Few years back, number of grass court events in the professional calendar were inadequate to reach good form. Players need time to switch to that grass courts. The process is tedious as this will demand changes in mindset, stroke making and in tactics. Although new genetically developed grass, now popular, is much easier to play than the traditional blue grass. There are more grass court events in the continental Europe now.
Tennis tough One Man Show
With two Grand Slam events completed and two more to go for the year, the number of top end players nursing their body has increased. Lower ranked players were dominating the early grass court events. Bound to change in Wimbledon.
WTA 2024
WTA had eight events on grass this year. Some overlapping. There can be restriction in the number of entries on grass court events. The surface even with genetic engineering is not taking the stress around the base line area. An unwritten norm of tennis is there can be no new surface replacement once the event begins. Same as cricket. Most of grass court events played with restricted number of entries. WTA winner list is no guideline to Wimbledon title of 2024. The last four grass court events in Europe had different winners. Bianca Andreescu resurfaced with Karolina Pliskova, Julia Putinseva, Ajla Tomlijanovic to win and in Berlin Jessica Pegula won a thriller against Anna Kalinskaya. WTA winners are a mixed baggage of players in the top 20.
WTA prospects
Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka have good grass court record, Elena Rybakina is having health issues, Coco Gauff with her older compatriot Jessica Pegula are into the top five of WTA ranking. The outsiders who are bound to do well are Beatrice Maia, Victoria Azerenka, Madison Keys and the surprise artist Jelena Osterpenko.
In the professional ranking, 11 to 20 are hang-in-positions. The stress is less to be there and still very noticeable. Some stay here for years before retiring.
ATP Men’s
Currently Jannick Sinner is the ATP No.1 now with Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zevrev and Danill Medvedev occupy the top five positions. All have had injury related absence this year. Others to watch on grass in ATP tennis will be Alex de Minaur of Australia, Grigor Dimitrov and Stefan Tsitsipas.
Carrying the ghost
Injuries and bounce back is player life in sports. When it comes to individual sport, the effect is profound and telling on players earning – that is prize money and sponsorship. WTA players Andreescu, Badosa and a few others of WTA are playing with support bandages. Some with shoulder strains even have to change their service action. In the recent past weeks, medical attention to players have increased. With planned misuse of injury break, it is strictly controlled. Weather is another factor this disturbing good performances.
To the genuinely injured players and returning to competition, the situation is like carrying a ghost, an enemy within. Alcaraz and few others in men and Badosa and good few others in women, are at any given time under the threat of injury recurring. It begins with a little sensation and slowly increases to trouble effective stroke making.
Player qualification into events
This has come up to be topic of discussion in the past 10 years. Kevin Anderson of South Africa as the president of ATP voiced that it is of no use to rank players effectively after 450 and useless past 650. His argument is, any player over 450 in the ranking cannot make a living playing professional tennis. Current tennis ranking is an automated process. [Artificial intelligence in operation] Computers receive data round the clock and ranking updated every Monday. At times, up to 10 players have the same ranking status. It does not happen in the first 450, but in ranking above 800, this is common. If a player does not break into the top 150 of the world ranking within the first three years in the circuit and under 22 years of age, potentially she or he is not the calibre to be a known player. Let alone making a living.
Wimbledon of 2024 will be with distractive European Football championships, Paris Olympics preparatory events and few other European summer events. Today big events have put up mega attraction to make their event appealing. Wimbledon has its own – traditional appeal.
–George Paldano, European and Asian competition player; Coach German Tennis Federation; National coach Brunei and Sri Lanka; Davis Cup, Federation Cup coach, coached ATP, WTA and ITF ranked players in Europe and Asia; WhatsApp +94775448880–