Guido Pella And Roberto Bautista Agut Credit Slow Courts For Wimbledon Success

Published 07/11/2019, 4:54 PM EDT

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Two of the men ATP, Guido Pella, and Roberto Bautista Agut have made a deep run at this year’s Wimbledon. They have achieved a significant milestone in their tennis careers and both of them feel the change in the turf of SW19. Arguably, like the other ATP men on tour, they talked about Wimbledon slow courts.

Pella owes his success in the major tournament to the altered surface at the British Slam. Prior to this year, he made just three main draw appearances at Wimbledon and collectively he could win just Wimbledon three matches in his tennis career. 

However, Wimbledon slow courts contributed to the latest niche in his career and the clay-court, Pella felt the movement on grass was less taxing. The tradition of grass-court tennis has somewhat evolved in this year’s edition as Wimbledon slow courts have given a chance to other versatile players on the court to dwell longer in the tournaments.

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“Well, compared to maybe other years, yes, it’s much slower. I think the matches now are more playable than in other years,” the World Number 26, Pella said. “You can play from the baseline without any problem. But I think that’s a good thing because the grass I think in previous years was just for servers. Maybe guys like, I don’t know, Karlovic or other guys that serve very good, maybe they can find a way to win easier than now.”

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But today the court was, like, without grass,” Pella added after his defeat to Agut. “It was much easier for us to move, to play like a clay court. But I think in Wimbledon if you can win just one match, the courts are getting slower and slower every day. I think for us, its much easier.”

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The Argentine, Pella tussled a bit on the Wimbledon courts and en route to the last eight round, he eliminated two former Wimbledon finalists, Kevin Anderson, and Milos Raonic.

Bautista Agut also experienced similar situations. Unlike, his thriving compatriot, Rafael Nadal who did not experience any changes in the court conditions, Agut felt the same as Pella on the Wimbledon slow courts. “The grass is slower, the sun rays have changed the court’s conditions. It plays well. You can rally and I benefit from it.”

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The Spaniard, Bautista will be stepping on to the Grand Slam semifinal court for every first time in his career. At Wimbledon Championships 2019, he mostly played one-sided matches until the quarterfinals.

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Against his quarterfinal opponent, Pella he happened to drop a set. And Bautista is aiming to become the sixth man on the ATP Tour to defeat Novak Djokovic for the third straight time, as he would face the Serb in the Wimbledon 2019 semifinals and his previous two victories against Novak came on the courts of Doha and Indian Wells this year. 

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Mahalakshmi Murali

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Mahalakshmi Murali joined EssentiallySports in 2018 as a tennis author and has gone on to pen more than 1800 engaging articles, probing into various aspects of the sport and its illustrious players. With her expertise on the sport, Mahalakshmi has interviewed stalwarts from the sport such as Serena WIlliams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou and Kevin Anderson’s physio, Carlos Costa. Equipped with her vast experience and a keen understanding of the sport, Mahalakshmi now co-heads the tennis department.
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