It’s nice to have your opinion reinforced by the respected coach and confidante of Rafael Nadal, when in an exclusive interview this past week Uncle Tony, the man who continues to guide Nadal’s career, confirmed that it was his contention that playing on US hard courts is detrimental to a player’s health. He went on to express his own thoughts, which he was careful to point out were not Rafa’s, that it is only a matter of time before his protege sustains a serious injury. Winning the US Open is important for the number one player, but if winning means having to endure so much pain and the possibility of suffering a career ending injury, then he would prefer that he limits himself to playing matches only on clay and grass. He also commented on the highly demanding schedule Rafa has to endure. People want to see the best player, and if he doesn’t reach the final the fans who bought expensive tickets just to see him play are disappointed. If you compare him to Tiger Woods, when a patron buys a ticket to watch the US Open Golf tournament, he is assured of seeing Tiger for all four days of the event, and almost certainly in the final day when at least 50 players are on the course. But tennis is different, only two players make it to the final day of competition, and it cannot always be the same two players.

Many tennis fans forget that when the US Open was originally played at Forest Hills it was played on grass. It was many years later that the surface was changed to concrete, and it is interesting to me to hear so many American tournament organizers and coaches bitching about the inexperience of their players and their lack of competitiveness on either clay or grass courts. None of then complained when the US dominated tennis with players such as Connors, Patrick McEnroe, Sampras, Agassi, Everet and Martina Navratilova.

The US television commentators like Dick Enberg and Mary Carillo should eat the derogatory words they continue to spout every time a Serb or a Russian beats one of their favourite sons on the unlevelled playing field of a grass or clay court, and stop berating the ‘foreign’ players who have changed the game. In a time of globalisation it may be time for the USTA to think about changing the surface of American tennis courts for something softer and less harmful to their players. The courts in Melbourne are ‘hard’ courts, but Plexicushion courts are not as hard as those used throughout the USA. With the technological advances in rackets and shoes, that has made mediocre players better, it would seem that an advance is due in the surface of the courts. Is synthetic grass a possibility? Or is the indoor carpet of several stadiums adaptable to outdoor use? Having 4 Grand Slams with 4 different surfaces is great, it establishes a winner on all 4 as someone extra special. Australia has ‘hard’, England has grass, and France has clay, it’s time the US opted for a change.

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