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NEW YORK, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Martina Navratilova criticised the tennis establishment on Saturday for not having enough regulations to deal with the size and strings of rackets.
"It takes less skill to hit great shots or to hit powerful shots because you just bang away," Navratilova told a news conference at the U.S. Open. "Tennis used to be more like squash, now it's more like racquetball.
"Hit the ball as hard as you can, it will still go in."
The 49-year-old Navratilova, who won 18 grand slam singles titles during her illustrious career, is playing women's and mixed doubles at the Open in her final tournament.
She said the new rackets are too good for the game and have essentially eliminated the need to volley, changing the way both singles and doubles are played.
"You can be a great volleyer and still not be able to win on a slower court against great baseliners," she said.
"Two people on the baseline, two people at the net, you should win every time. It does not happen. The rackets help the groundstrokes so much more than they help the volley."
Navratilova said "the powers that be aren't regulating" tennis enough.
"I'm disappointed that the racket manufacturers are dictating what kind of tennis we're watching," she said.
"They're saying, 'Oh, this is the rackets we need to be playing with.'"
She praised the strict rules dictated by the Professional Golf Association (PGA).
"If golf regulated their game the same way tennis regulated our game, they'd be hitting 400 yard drives, hooking it left and right, any which way they want to, or keeping the ball straight even though you have a hook swing but the ball still goes straight."
Navratilova has reached the second round of both doubles events in the swan song of her career. She suggested racket heads should be smaller and there needs to be "some kind of restriction on the strings."
"I am disappointed with the direction the game is going, period," she said, noting that even world number one Roger Federer has essentially given up on serve-and-volley tennis.
"I'm the greatest volleyer that's ever played, and I would have a hard time serve-volleying in today's game, so something is wrong.
"The courts are too slow, the rackets are too powerful, so you're going to see much more one dimensional tennis. It takes a genius to play really well at the net.
"Even Federer, he used to serve and volley. Now he's staying back more because it's safer."
x.doublea
Perhaps she's right, but I seriously doubt anything would be done. But she misses a fundamental thing: people hit so good from the baseline now because the technique of the groundstroke has changed in a way that makes it so powerful and accurate; most of the top baseliners don't use supersized racquets (well, at least on the men's side). The volley has not been changed at all, and I'm not sure it can be changed.
Rattler
This is an old arguement. They said the same thing about the serves...what it will take is a really good volleyer to come along on the pro-tour..(and one will...eventually).
Teaching volleys, at least locally, is pretty much non-existent.
J-man
That's very true x.doublea. But if the ATP and WTA did what she is saying the game would have more variety, still.
Tennis fan
I agree with her. Some kind of regulating on the racket specifications must be introduced though. It would make the game more fun to watch and players will be on more equal footing.
dav6789
I fully agree with Navratilova and I'm glad she has been vocal about this problem for a while now. Tennis has gotten worse in recent years. Everyone hits the ball hard from the baseline. Outside of the top 20, everyone hits very hard with alot of topspin, and that's it. It is impossible to volley regularly and win. Even on grass it is very hard to volley. Federere hardly volleys anymore....Nadal hit more volleys than him at Wimbledon this year! It is completely getting out of hand and their is no variety in the game. Saying that, everyone was a serve/volleyer about 30 years ago except on clay but at least people had different styles and it is a more skillful way to play. Now it has really got out of hand. People don't have any variety from the baseline, it's all hard-hit topspin forehand sand backhands. Something needs to be done.
x.doublea
Perhaps, but the restrainments will have to be made with racquet specifications. I don't think they should ban certain materials or technologies though....
dav6789
x.doublea wrote:
Perhaps, but the restrainments will have to be made with racquet specifications. I don't think they should ban certain materials or technologies though....
I think the main problems are:
Racquet size: Some racquets are too big right now allowing people just to hit harder.
The 'Big Banger' String: This is a string that puts alot of spin on the ball, too much. Most players now use this string and are happy to hit the ball very hard knowing that this string will keep it in. It's just as bad as the spaghetti string, which was eventually banned as it allowed players unfair advantage. Guillermo Vilas' claycourt record was broken because of the unfair spaghetti string. If they keep this string, it will have a larger influence on the game.
beachjm
I agree with everything Martina had to say. She would make a great commissioner in the near future. I'd love to see either her or Agassi take a position of leadership in the game some day.
It is very sad that tennis has caved to the racquet companies. Golf has done a much better job in not letting the top players used "souped up" clubs so why has tennis sold out so much? Probably lack of leadership or they got too greedy and now there's too much power in the game.
I think one day people could say enough is enough because the lack of serve and volleying, even volleying of any kind, has really hurt the game. This is a major problem the tennis establishment has to confront in the near future or the game could be very, very one-dimensional.
