What the Wimbledon?!

I don't even know what is happening in London right now. This has been the craziest Wimbledon that I can remember. Seeds have been dropping like flies left and right. I challenge anybody to show me that they picked Flipkens, Janowicz or Kubot in the semis and quarters before the tournament started. The tournament has been absolutely littered with upsets and injury withdrawals so far. Unlike so many people that want to blame the grass at the All England club, I think it is far more of result due to scheduling. As much as commentators like to throw out the term "grass court season," there is no such thing. A 2 week period with a couple tuneup tournaments in between the culmination of the clay season and the lone grass court major does not constitute a season. Grass is probably the most unique surface left on tour and I feel it should have more of a true season. The players have little time to adjust to the different movement grass court tennis requires. It was most evident in Nadal's match. He looked completely uncomfortable, which to me was a by product of the fact that he skipped all of the warm up tournaments.

Starting next year, the break between the French and Wimbledon will be 3 weeks but I'd like to see it expand a bit more. A little extra time could give some breathing room to players who go deep into the French while still giving them a chance to play a warm up event. I also feel like this could help minimize injury risk by increasing the time players have to get acclimatized to the surface. There are already distinct clay and hard court seasons, so let's put some more thought and attention into the grass portion of the schedule. Obviously it's tough to add tournaments to the already packed schedule but some things could be tweaked. For instance, why is there a clay court women's tournament in Europe AFTER the French? That's one more event that could be a grass court tuneup potentially. But before I continue to rant, I'll remember that I don't work for the ATP or WTA and I have my own tournament schedule to worry about. Here's to looking forward to a wacky weekend at Wimbledon! I'm calling it now: Flipkens and Kubot, 2013 Champs! ;)

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