Once Upon a Time on Fast Courts

More than a week ago, the Paris ATP Masters Series tournament ended with Robin Soderling's victory, at the same time bringing the regular tournament calendar of the ATP Tour to a close. It was a fantastic tournament that often lacked thrills in the past years due to its date in the calendar; it is the last tournament of the year before the ATP World Tour Finals, going on this week in London. Some players are tired and exit early, some simply choose not to play it by declaring injury, having guaranteed their spot in the rankings and in London.

This time around, everyone played it except Rafael Nadal, and they gave their best effort, resulting in some mind-blowing matches, including two semifinals that got as close as it gets to a "Super Saturday" version of a non-slam tournament. Gaël Monfils defeated Roger Federer after saving five match-points in a match that saw all three sets go to tiebreakers. In the other semifinals, Robin Soderling defeated in a similar fashion the 30-year-old serve-and-volleyer Michael Llodra in a third set tiebreaker after having saved himself three match-points.

It was a strange Saturday as the Federer/Monfils match featured an overwhelming amount of aces and quick winners for a match that featured two players who usually prefer to win their points from the baseline by setting up the point. The Soderling/Llodra match, on the other hand, featured one big-hitter and a natural serve-and-volleyer who is having his best year on the tour at his late age. One would think that it will be a match of few good shots, short rallies, and not much shot-making. They were wrong. The quality kept climbing throughout the match, climaxing in the final set; both players hit one amazing winner after the other and they even had some breath-taking rallies from the baseline.

In the meantime, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray found themselves left behind. More importantly, the tournament left everyone to wonder if fast courts, a disappearing commodity in tennis, were indeed needed more in the sport. If anything at all, the Paris tournament showed that fast courts do not necessarily result in boring matches and lack of spectacular points. It turned out to be one of the most entertaining tournaments of the year.

Djokovic was the first one to comment on the fast courts at Palais Omnisport de Bercy that Murray later called the fastest that he had ever played on "since joining the ATP Tour." Djokovic admitted that it was refreshing to play on fast courts for a change because it forced the players to go the net more. Case in point: Andy Murray switched to serve-and-volley after falling behind against David Nalbandian, only to come back and win in three sets. He tried the same tactic against Monfils in the quarters after losing the first set. He did come back to tie at one set all, but Monfils proved too tough in the third set. Roger Federer mixed in plenty of serve-and-volley throughout his matches. Even Soderling, who is rarely seen at the net, saved a crucial match point against Llodra by coming to the net, before walking out with a victory.

And then there was Michael Llodra. In a year in which Taylor Dent announced his retirement, Llodra remains perhaps the sole player who is successful on the ATP Tour using a pure serve-and-volley style game. Yet despite being a doubles specialist, he has had a very successful season in singles, climbing to a career-high number 23 on the ATP ranking, playing a major role in France reaching the Davis Cup finals, and defeating Nikolay Davydenko and Djokovic before succumbing to Soderling in Paris to end his great season. Finally, his style of play offered plenty of spectacular points and remarkable athleticism.

So what is it? Is the plug being pulled too soon on fast courts? This is assuming that it is not already pulled (emphasizing the past tense) and that is apparently saying too much. We all know about the much-slower courts at Wimbledon. If you were not aware of it, watch how Roger Federer adjusted his style of playing on the grass courts of Wimbledon over the years. Look at his matches in his first years at Wimbledon versus how he stays back in the later years. And this week in London, Rafa commented already on the courts at London, saying that they play a bit slower this year.

Paris tournament showed that the players themselves would perhaps agree that the plug is effectively being pulled too soon. Djokovic was not the only one finding himself longing for faster courts. Murray added to his above comments that he wished there was more variety of surfaces, and that he likes "the different surfaces and what they bring." Andy Roddick did not stay quite either; with his usual dry humor, he added that it has become "monotonous" and that "it feels like there is a slow court available nine months of the year." Federer also commented on the faster surface, reminiscing that he remembered when Pete Sampras, Goran Ivanisevic, and Cedric Pioline were playing like that on the circuit.

Is this enough to dissipate the precarious image that fast courts bring boring tennis to the table? It is difficult to say, but when some of the top players comment negatively on the slow demise of fast courts within the circuit, when the tournament with the fastest court on the calendar (according to Murray) offers so many thrilling matches coupled with high quality tennis, and finally, when a pure serve-and-volleyer finds the opportunity to go toe-to-toe with the top talents on the Tour, one is left to wonder if that image is indeed nothing but imagination running astray.