“People don’t realize how much players rely on sound to judge the speed and where on the racket your opponent hit the ball,” said Bethanie Mattek-Sands, winner of five women’s doubles Grand Slams. “It takes a little adjustment.”
The major difference is the way the ball bounces — or rather, doesn’t. Paris, which was exceedingly fast until 2011 when tournament officials changed the makeup of the court, still plays quicker than the ATP Finals at the 02 Arena in London, MacPherson added, although indoor courts are all slower than they were decades ago.
Then, on what Brad Gilbert, an ESPN analyst, called the “crazy fast” surfaces (including carpets), “big servers dominated indoors. There wasn’t a lot of tennis played because the points were so short.”
Contemporary indoor courts provide better tennis, but have what MacPherson called a deadening effect on the ball, which he and Ljubicic both said neutralized the kick serve, which was, for years, Nadal’s favorite weapon against many players, especially Federer.
“On the second serve, the advantage really goes to the returner,” said MacPherson, who added that the wind outdoors, combined with kick or spin, can make teeing off on a second serve more challenging.
Ultimately, Isner argued, arena conditions help big servers like him less than his opponents. “It makes a bigger difference for the really good ball strikers to have no wind and can hit the ball so cleanly,” he said. “It favors quick players who can counterpunch.”
Ljubicic partially agreed, saying that without wind, the slow, low-bouncing courts make it difficult to beat great movers who can control the ball. He cites Djokovic as the prime example.
