Roger Federer has alleged that tournament directors are purposefully slowing down the courts with an intention to produce Carlos Alcaraz vs. Jannik Sinner finals: “I understand the tournament directors who, based on their instructions, try to make the courts slower. This benefits those who need to hit extraordinary winners to beat Sinner, because, if the court is fast, they might only need a couple of well-timed shots to win. Tournament directors think: ‘I’d rather have Sinner and Alcaraz in the final, you know?’ In a way, it works for tennis.”
Federer feels the problem needs to be solved for the edification of the overall sport: “That’s why we, the tournament directors, we need to fix it. We need to have not only fast courts, but what we would want to see is Alcaraz or Sinner figure it out on lightning fast and then have the same match on super slow and see how that matches up. It’s because the tournament directors have allowed with the ball speed and the court speed that every week is basically the same. And that’s why you can just go from winning, I don’t know, French, Wimbledon, US Open, and just play the same way.”
ATP · Carlos Alcaraz · Jannik Sinner · Roger Federer
Scoop Malinowski · September 22, 2025 at 9:58 am
Laver Cup should also mix up surfaces and speeds, clay, astro turf, even wood.
Steve · September 22, 2025 at 10:16 am
According to Fritz the Laver Cup surface in San Francisco was extremely slow/
Do you happen to know how much the appearance fees the top 10 guys get just to show up? I know it’s a sliding scale but am curious.
Scoop Malinowski · September 22, 2025 at 11:39 am
Appearance fees are not disclosed. Some changes in prize money… https://www.essentiallysports.com/atp-tennis-news-how-much-do-laver-cup-players-really-get-paid-in-twenty-twenty-five-breaking-down-the-prize-money-and-earnings/