re: The Unofficial 2018 Australian Open Thread

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Wimbledon had tinkered also before to stop Goran and serve bots.

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Is that a problem?

I mean, you can't in one breath say that "the homogenization" of men's tennis is due to racquet technology, slower court and slower balls. The racquets speed the game up. Slower courts and slower balls have the opposite effect. So what has caused the homogenization? The speeding up or the slowing down?

If the slowing of courts and balls is meant to counteract servebot tennis, then I'm all for it.


Also, I don't think that link said what you think it says.

"For any location and court type, there is a variety of ball available to the player, in addition to the standard (Type 2) ball. A slightly harder, fast-speed ball (Type 1) which is intended for use on ‘slower’ court surfaces, and a larger, slow-speed ball (Type 3) for faster courts are described in the Rules of Tennis, along with a ball that is specifically designed to be used at high altitude."

"
Mass

The weighing scales used in the laboratory are calibrated to +/- 0.01g. The acceptable mass range is 56.0-59.4 grams. This last changed in 2000 (from 56.7-58.5 grams)."

I have come around with you a bit on the Wimbledon thing. I have had to suffer through some Isner and Raonic matches in person and the shite is unwatchable. But, I understand the traditionalists who don't like seeing Djoker or Rafa win it from the baseline.

Other than Wimbledon, I don't understand the homogenized courts argument. I don't think AO is really much faster or slower than it has been since they moved off of the grass in the '80's. In fact, I thought the plexipave is a little quicker than Rebound Ace. RG has always been RG. USO has always been fast per reports, except for some anecdotal stuff last year. I do wish there was some carpet in the fall/winter. Not sure what the deal is there, if it's an injury thing or it was deemed too fast.

I have no idea if balls have been manipulated (yeah, manipulate my balls) other than I think RG used a livelier Dunlop ball three or four years ago.

This is from the ITF who runs the Slams, Olympics, and Cups LINK

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Justification for the amendment

The Rules of Tennis Committee and the Technical Commission have recommended that Rule 3 – The Ball and Appendix 1 paragraphs iv and vii be amended, and a new Case 1 be inserted, to ratify the introduction of two new types of tennis ball. Following a two-year period of experimentation and detailed study, the Technical Commission has concluded that the objectives of the experiment have been successfully achieved and that the amendment will be of significant benefit in the development of tennis. Specifically the experiment has confirmed the following:

1. The Type 3 oversize ball is slower in pace and therefore allows recreational players more time to formulate their return stroke. This can be shown to lead to longer rallies of up to 25%. It can therefore be concluded that the Type 3 ball on any surface will make the learning of tennis easier and more fun for the majority of players.

2. Although not its primary purpose, the Type 3 oversize ball if used on faster surfaces can also help curb where necessary the dominance of the serve and corresponding lack of rallies in the professional game.

N.B. It should also be noted that the Technical Commission has proposed an amendment to the regulation defining high altitude balls. The current regulation defines two types of high altitude ball which are widely accepted to be not entirely satisfactory for such purposes. The ideal high altitude ball is currently considered to be one which accounts for the lower air density above 4000ft. and the difference in atmospheric pressure between high altitude and sea level. The current Type 3 oversize ball satisfies the former requirement and can therefore be recommended for play above 4000ft. on any type of surface.

It should be stressed that the Rules of Tennis Committee and the Technical Commission believe that the proposed terminology linking ball type with court surface type provides the appropriate guidance whilst being non-mandatory. The Board of Directors recommends acceptance of this proposal.

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I have to teach a class will be back later.

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When a blister on your foot pops open, you can't play. It's actually pretty excruciating.

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Chung agrees.

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rallybots

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First time I've heard this one.

Wow, the Cilic/Fed match is a borderline coin flip IMO. Cilic got a little overwhelmed at Wimbledon and had some blisters. I don't think that scoreline comes close to happening again. Sprinkle some cheddar on Chilly.

I think Halep wins comfortably, unless she is beat down tired.

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Sun 1/28 101 Marin Cilic +355

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Now this, I can get behind. Kinda like over 3.5 sets at -133 too.

How did we not post this yet?!

"Funny how the world works. Winter on one side. Summer on the other."
RIP, sir.

Sebastian Korda won the juniors. Great for him.

I always hated his dad, though.