Did the tricky Wimbledon turf rob her of her Grand Slam magic?

Three-time Grand Slam finalist Casper Ruud took an unorthodox approach to preparing for Wimbledon, widely considered tennis’s most prestigious tournament.

It included attending more concerts featuring his favorite singer, The Weeknd, than playing actual tennis matches on the lawn.

Unsurprisingly, the 29-year-old Liam Brodie from Britain who is ranked 142 in the world knocked Rudd out in the second round on Thursday. Ruud, ranked No. 4 in the world, was OK with that. “He’s a much better grass court player than I am,” Rudd said of Brodie.

There was a time when many of the best tennis players made success at Wimbledon the focus of their seasons, and some considered their careers incomplete unless they won at the cradle of the sport. Everyone from Rod Laver to Martina Navratilova said they came to Wimbledon to get in touch with the roots of the sport.

Nowadays, with the other three Grand Slam tournaments growing in popularity and the grass-court season developing into a twisty detour about a month away from the rest of the tennis calendar, many top players can’t seem to find the time or headspace. To make the good life on the lawn a priority. If it cost them an eternity in the sport of tennis, so be it.

It is blasphemous it is said that, for many players, even the great ones, Wimbledon has become just another Grand Slam tournament.

Former world number one Victoria Azarenka said, “I don’t know if winning Wimbledon is, in my opinion, bigger than winning the US Open or winning the Australian Open. They are all very important tournaments.”

Part of the responsibility of Wimbledon itself. In the early 2000s, with racquet and string technology constantly improving to help players hit the ball with newfound power, Wimbledon began planting its entire courts with permanent ryegrass rather than the mixture of ryegrass and red grass it had used. The switch made the courts more durable and introduced cleaner, higher bounces, allowing the surfaces to play more like a hard court than an ice rink.

Around the same time, the French Open made its courts harder and faster, essentially causing the extinction of the clay-court specialist who had won in Paris but nowhere else. Within a few years, play in the four Grand Slam tournaments became more alike than different. Almost all of them began to be won by the same players, and the accumulation of Grand Slam tournament titles over the course of his career became the dominant narrative of tennis, rather than who could win that majestic title against the British royals on their court. Box.

However, it remains true that grass court tennis is different from all other types of tennis, and the All England Club still has a lot of fans.

Among them are almost all British players, many of whom grew up chasing tennis balls on the lawn at their local clubs, and Novak Djokovic, now considered the greatest player of the Open Era, which began in 1968. It marks the beginning of playing tennis. Life with watching Wimbledon on TV as a boy. Francis Tiafoe and Sebastian Korda, both senior Americans, said they wish the grass-court season was longer, because it fits their style and is pure.

Bob Bryan, US Davis Cup captain and winner of four Wimbledon doubles titles, said nothing quite as chilling as walking through the iron gates of the All England Club.

“It’s the holy grail of sports,” Brian said. “There is nothing like it.”

Yes, but that darn turf—that classic surface that was contested at three of the four Grand Slam tournaments—virtually disappeared from the sport.

Daniil Medvedev from Russia said he always greatly appreciated Wimbledon – the flowers, all in perfect colors and in just the right place. the food; Luxurious locker rooms. But then you have to play on the grass, which can make the best of you feel as if they’re bad at tennis.

“You lose, you go crazy,” said Medvedev. “You’re like, ‘No, I played too bad.'” “

Stefanos Tsitsipas spent much of the time between the French Open and Wimbledon posting on social media from swanky venues with his new ‘soul mate’, Women’s Tour star Paula Badosa of Spain, rather than practicing on the grass.

He said winning on clay, especially at the French Open, got him feeling gritty and dirty and spent it in the best way. On grass, it can feel a little squeaky clean and empty, he said, although he looked a little off Friday after he beat Andy Murray, one of grass court’s greatest players, on center court.

For men, there is another problem. Djokovic has been so good here for so long, having won his last four Wimbledon men’s singles titles, seven total matches and a 31 match winning streak – that sometimes the rest of the court shows, what’s the point?

“It seems to be getting better,” said Lorenzo Musetti, the rising Italian, who only recently started winning on grass. He said he struggled there because everywhere else he could stand up and whale so far on the ball. At Wimbledon, even with the new turf, the ball remains low enough to make players squat for three hours and use their feet, calf and thigh muscles to power their movements, like ski racers coming down a slope. This may be one reason why Djokovic excels – he was an elite skater before he dabbled in tennis – and many tall players don’t take advantage of the grass requirement.

Women struggle, too. World No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who never made it past the fourth round at Wimbledon, said her deep runs at the French Open, which she has won in the past two years, prevented her from getting enough time to rest and play enough. Matches to cope with the unexpected bounce on the turf. She said she considered training on grass in the off-season in November and December but decided it would leave her unprepared for the Australian Open in January.

“For the whole year, I don’t really think about it,” she said of the lawn setting.

A promising and dangerous Spaniard on clay and hard courts, Aleksandr Davidovich Fokina said he struggled with his confidence as soon as he stepped on the grass.

“Very, very difficult,” he said.

And then there’s Andrey Rublev, another Russian, who has described grass as a maddening, unnerving form of tennis, with rallies and short scores that can seem inconsequential.

“You feel very confident, and then you go to the court and the guy, he gains four aces, returns two, unreal – out of nowhere, he breaks you, and the set is over,” Rublev said. “And maybe sometimes you get really tight, like, I can’t move, I can’t put one ball in the court. Then the guy double-faults, and the ball hits your racket frame and goes in, and you smash it, and then you win a set.”

Medvedev doesn’t even think that playing preparatory courses on the grass makes much difference, because the grass is different in Germany, Holland and various places in England. He said that the field pitches at the All England Club were played too fast and the stadium pitches were slow.

Will he ever feel at home on the grass? After winning his second round on Friday, he said he might be getting close.

He said, “Maybe at the door.” Not inside, but at the door.

As for Rudd, he said after his loss that he would keep trying but winning Wimbledon might not be in the cards. Every time he cuts his killing forehand, he feels as if he is going to stumble and get injured by the way he lands and then have to push to chase down the next shot.

He made it to the men’s doubles tournament, allowing him to linger for a bit before heading back to some clay tennis in Europe later this month.

He may be motivated outside of tennis. The Weeknd was scheduled to play in London this weekend.