Djokovic, Nadal in Favor of Extending Grass Season

Written by: Staff on 25th June 2012

Djokovic, Nadal in Favor of Extending Grass Season

epa03280841 Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns to Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain during their first round match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 25 June 2012. EPA/GERRY PENNY |

It may be seem nearly impossible given how compacted the tennis schedule already is, but the talk around Wimbledon is that there has been some discussion amongst officials about increasing the time between Roland Garros, which is played on clay, and Wimbledon, which is played on grass, to three weeks.

If that occurs, the grass court season (excluding Newport, which is played after Wimbledon) will stand at five weeks. Two of the ATP’s top players Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, seemed pleased about it.

“There have been talks, Djokovic said. “The bottom line is that we are all trying to work for the good of the sport. We had this schedule forever. I thought that there has been maybe a slight change over the years, but it has been always exactly the same with only two weeks between end of Roland Garros and start of Wimbledon. My personal opinion is that this it is too short. We need an extra week, because it would work in the favor of players because it would give especially the top players a little bit more time to get used to the surface.

“Logically speaking, it is the slowest surface that we’re talking about, clay, moving to the fastest one, which takes time. Over the years we all had to adjust. So the schedule is as it is and we all accept it, but we will try to find the better solution and work for the better of the sport.”

Nadal, who has won majors on all surfaces, took a slight different tack, saying that the mere addition of a week on a softer surface would benefit everyone.

” I always say is great to play more and more on clay and grass because those surfaces are historic in the world of tennis,” Nadal said. “In the past, most of the tournaments were on clay and grass. In my opinion for the body the worst surface to play or the most aggressive surface to play is the hard court. I will never have nothing against to play more weeks on grass or clay, because I think is easier for the physical performance, for the injuries of the players.”

Topics: 10sballs.com, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roland Garros, Sports, Tennis News, Wimbledon