A Plea for a Longer Grass-Court Tennis Season

Tim Henman stretches for a volley.

Rafael Nadal, the number-one tennis player in the world, thinks that the tournament seasons on clay and grass should be lengthened and the time spent playing on hard courts should be shortened. Clay and grass surfaces are more forgiving on the players' bodies, he says, and tennis would benefit from it. Nadal is currently suffering from severe tendonitis in both knees and had to pull out of the Queen's Club tournament in London, the major tune-up event before the championships at Wimbledon. At the present time, Nadal's participation at Wimbledon, where he is the title-holder, remains in doubt.

Actually, I think the number of events played on clay during the 11-month tennis season is ample, although I wouldn't object to more. However, I agree wholeheartedly that the grass-court tennis season should be longer. This year, it spans only 5 weeks, and two of those are Wimbledon. Why should that be? Why not start at the end of Roland Garros with something like the following: Week #1: Halle (Gerry Weber Open); Week#2: London/Queen's Club (Aegon Championships); Weeks #3 and 4: Wimbledon Championships; Week #5: Eastbourne (Aegon Open) and a clay court event (Bastad? Stuttgart?); Week 6: S'Hertogenbosch (Ordina Open) and a clay court event (Bastad? Stuttgart?); Week #7: Newport (Campbell's Hall of Fame Championships) and plus whatever hardcourt event is scheduled; and Week #8: Another grass court event in the USA plus whatever hardcourt event is scheduled. Surely there is a tennis club on Long Island somewhere with enough grass courts for an ATP tournament?

Even an 8-week grass-court season overlapping clay and hardcourt events is not much, considering that 3 of the 4 Grand Slams used to be played on grass. Of course, who knows if sponsors could be found, but that's not my department. However, I'm not sure that Rafael Nadal would enjoy my grass-court tennis season, because I want to return to the old days of fast courts with low bounces and tricky hops and players rushing the net. Come on, what's 8 weeks out of an 11-month season? But it would certainly make it more interesting to force the true contenders among tennis players to master a really different surface instead of being able to bang away from the baseline as they do now for the entire year. In today's tennis, to quote Fred Stolle, winning players on grass don't have to come to the net until it's time to shake hands. In my grass court season, those guys wouldn't make it past the first round.