Professional tennis, including ATP and TA, has year-round events from January to November, with only a short one-month offseason in December.
However, in such a long season, there is only one month for grass, that is, June. There are only a handful of grass-court events around the world. With the comprehensive promotion of hard courts, the role of grass in the tennis world is even greater. It is marginalized and gradually loses its place.
At this point, some people may have questions: In this case, why not simply cancel the grass season?
Is it because Wimbledon, one of the four Grand Slams, is still played on grass?
But the point is that the Australian Open, French Open and US Open all used to be grass fields in history, and later changed their venue types. So why can't Wimbledon do the same? As long as Wimbledon also changes its venue, will grass courts be permanently removed from the stage of history?
Here, I can tell you an interesting little thing -
The younger generation of players, including Kyrgios, Bublik, Medvedev and others, all hate clay courts because they grew up on hard courts and are not adapted to the rhythm of clay courts. Their basic skills are often not good enough on clay courts. They have all been exposed. They have all said in public that they "hope to cancel the clay court", "the clay court season is only two months anyway" and so on.
However, they never complained, "Why not cancel the grass field?" and "The grass field season is only one month anyway."
The reason is very simple -
Tradition.
For tennis, grass represents tradition. Without grass, there would be no tennis.
As mentioned before, tennis was born as early as the twelfth century and originated in France. Therefore, many tennis terms come from French.
However, modern tennis had to wait until 1873, when it was improved, perfected and developed in the UK. First, this sport played on land was transferred to grass, secondly, a set of playing methods closer to modern tennis was integrated, and finally A set of basic rules of tennis has been compiled.
In 1877, the All England Cricket Club held the first Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon. They organized a referee committee to draw up detailed rules for the game, which became the cornerstone and slowly evolved into the rules of contemporary tennis. Among them Most of them are still in use today.
In the same year, the first Wimbledon Tennis Championships started at the Wimbledon headquarters in the western suburbs of London. This was not only the earliest tennis match in the history of modern tennis, but also the first official tennis event that can be traced back in history. In short, everything comes from here.
In that year, the club officially changed its name to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, and later evolved into the "All England Club" that is now familiar to the world -
Among the four Grand Slams, the difference can be seen from the names. The Australian Open, the French Open (also known as Roland Garros), and the US Open are all "open" events. At the same time, it will be given the name of the country, and the National Tennis Association will assist in the process.
The only exception is the Wimbledon Championships. This event, to this day, is still not a state-supported event, but a private club project. It only opens the entry restrictions and is open to all professional players around the world. But in essence, It is still a private event.
The All England Club is the organizer of Wimbledon.
It is precisely because of this that Wimbledon is the most special and traditional of the four Grand Slam tournaments. Since 1877, the tradition has been followed all the way. As a private club, they try to minimize the influence from the outside world and focus on inheritance single-mindedly. Keep your traditions alive.
In other words, Wimbledon defined and promoted modern tennis. Their insistence is precisely on respecting and admiring tradition.
Since 1877, Wimbledon has changed a lot after a hundred years of ups and downs, but they still adhere to the essence of tennis.
Wimbledon has no support from the state and has tried its best to resist the erosion of business. However, it can stand firm and firmly occupy a position in the fiercely competitive era. In the final analysis, it is because
For tradition, it serves as a platform to showcase all things classic elegance and reawaken people's love for tennis, which has earned Wimbledon its supreme special status.
Tradition symbolizes classics and history——
There is no doubt that the historical status of the four Grand Slams is almost the same, but in the minds of players, the Wimbledon championship has always had the significance of a crown. From Sampras to Federer, the inheritance of the two generations of golf champions is more or less the same. We can all see that Wimbledon plays an important role.
A large part of the reason why Federer has been able to establish his position as the world's number one golfer is his five consecutive Wimbledon titles from 2003 to 2007——
For industry insiders and senior fans, Federer was able to establish his rule in an elegant and noble way at Wimbledon, which represents tradition, which also means the birth of a golf king.
Not to mention that countless young players have a special yearning for Wimbledon, as if they are entering history and enjoying tennis.
"Grass" is an important tradition that Wimbledon has inherited. The existence of this event continues to remind the younger generation that tennis first originated from grass and developed on grass, which can best showcase tennis. The elegant and charming venue is also this lush meadow.
In fact, all four Grand Slam events have been held on grass -
At the Australian Open, until 1987, all events were held on grass.
The US Open, from 1925 to 1974, was also held on grass; from 1975 to 1977, it was switched to green soil in just three years; after 1978, it was switched to hard courts, which is the only one that uses Played Grand Slam tournaments on three different venues.
The French Open, which was played on grass very, very briefly from 1925 to 1927, has otherwise been a traditional clay court event.
It can be seen that Roland Garros has been upholding the tradition of European clay courts in its own way, and Wimbledon has been upholding the tradition that modern tennis originated from grass courts in its own way. The two events are fiercely competing in contemporary business society. , still adhere to its own traditions.
This is worthy of respect. It can not only ensure the diversity of tennis and continue the charm of tennis on different venues; it can also remind people of the tradition of tennis at all times. Even if competitive sports continue to advance and innovate, they can still maintain this The authentic charm of sports.
Of course, from a commercial promotion perspective, hard courts are all over the world, which is a good thing for the popularity of tennis, just like basketball and football; however, the reason why tennis is tennis is because this sport has grass, clay and hard courts. Wait for the respective colors of different venues.
Therefore, no matter how short the grass season is, ATP and TA are always keeping the grass season going, and not just because of Wimbledon.
Similarly, even though the grass-court season was only a month long and ended before even blinking, Kyrgios and Bublik complained about the troubles on clay, but never expressed any dissatisfaction with the grass.
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