This year we are having lots of talks about the fact that the Australian Open courts are uncharacteristically fast.  That is a matter of fact, and it definitely helped Roger Feder’s performance, but Graig Tiley, the boss of the Australian  Open, denied that they have chosen this particular surface to help the Maestro.

It’s not true we helped Roger

Craig commented

“That’s not true. That’s not true,[that we helped Rofer]. I mean, you had some pretty good claycourt players in the semi-finals.”

So if people think the courts have been designed to suit one particular player … Rafa has had great success on clay; he made the semis. Stan’s had great success on clay; he made the semis. So, no, that’s just not true.”

Why the courts are probably faster

Then Tiley added

“We did nothing different by design because each year we tell California Products, the company out of the US, to lay the same court as exactly the previous year.

How courts work on their speed is that when you resurface them, they take a few weeks to slowly increase (speed), and then they hit a plateau, and they stay at that plateau for months.

So we resurface all the courts every year. We resurface them in October, November, and December and I think what happened with the show courts – maybe Rod Laver – is that they were done a little earlier. So at the end of the tournament last year, it was the same speed as the beginning of the tournament this year.”