A slow-court conspiracy
You may be aware that we live in an age of conspiracy theories, in which everyone believes at least one truth to actually be a lie constructed by the powers that be – from the roundness of the earth to Tupac being dead. Wimbledon is no exception, where this year there have been many voices whispering that the courts at SW19 are slower than usual, but they don’t want you to know.
Evidence put forward in support of the slow-court conspiracy include drier soil, a new “thatched” strain of grass and, yes, bigger balls. The latter charge resulted in one of those exchanges that could only happen on social media, with Mark Petchey advising Brad Gilbert to get to the bottom of the matter by inspecting Todd Woodbridge’s ball collection. On the other side of the argument, the All England Club insist they’ve had the courts independently tested and they’re playing just the same as ever. But then, they would say that, wouldn’t they.
Anyway, the Diary has a humble contribution to make to the debate: some data on the average length of a set. Slower courts should make for longer rallies, but statistics show that so far in 2019, men’s sets are on average a minute shorter than last year at 39 minutes, and the same length as in 2012. The women’s average is higher, at 40 minutes, but that figure has been the same for three years now. The numbers don’t lie. Or do they?
Boxed Lionesses
The Lionesses were out in force on Tuesday, dominating the Royal Box like they did the first half against Norway. Every member of England’s Women’s World Cup squad got an invite and 11 players, as well as coach Phil Neville and his wife Julie, turned up to enjoy the women’s quarter-finals from the best seats on Centre Court. Not only did the players enjoy some top-class tennis, they also experienced refereeing technology that works efficiently. So, all in all, a great day.
History in the breaking
Some came hoping for an Andy Murray comeback. Others were delighted to see Coco Gauff play her first grand slam. For a particular type of tennis nerd, however, there was only one thing they wanted from Wimbledon in 2019 and that was a fifth set tie-break.
Introduced across the championships this year, the new tie-break rule comes into force when the final set reaches 12 games apiece. Other matches have flirted with the milestone but on day eight it finally came to pass when Henri Kontinen and John Peers beat Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the men’s doubles, 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 13-12 (2). According to the stats, the final set featured a mammoth 156 points and lasted 100 minutes. In that time, Bernard Tomic could normally knock off a couple of matches.
