Slow surface the cause of one-sided games: Federer

LONDON — Six-time champion Roger Federer said a slower court may be to blame for the one-sided scores at the ATP World Tour Finals, the showcase event on the men’s tennis tour.

Five matches have been played involving the top eight players in the world, and so far, they have all gone the same way: Straight sets.

“The court plays somewhat slow,” Federer said in a news conference in London today after United States Open finalist Kei Nishikori took only five games from him.

But ATP World Tour spokesman Simon Higson said in an email: “The court has been prepared in exactly the same way as last year.”

Federer said serves seem to be having less impact. “Whoever’s better from the baseline has the upper hand,” he said. “I think that’s why we’re seeing heavy scorelines, because it’s just hard to serve your way out of trouble. It’s almost not possible time and time again.”

Yesterday, Tomas Berdych and US Open champion Marin Cilic — who are both over 1.96m tall and known for booming serves — won a combined four games.

Cilic lost to defending champion and world No 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia, 6-1, 6-1 in 56 minutes, while Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka took two more minutes to move past Berdych of the Czech Republic with the same scoreline.

“I found the surface quite challenging,” Berdych said in a news conference yesterday. “When you hit the ball very flat, it stays flat. When you put a lot of spin or some spin, it’s taking the spin quite a lot, too.”

Berdych said it is not easy to replicate the same court year after year in a venue that is also used for different purposes. “When you are building a temporary court, it’s nearly impossible to make it exactly the same all the way around,” he said.

The slower surface may benefit more athletic players, Federer said.

“You need to hit a lot of great shots, if it’s not working well for you, to have an impact,” he said. “From that standpoint, I think the best movers are most likely going to come through here.” BLOOMBERG