are they? roger himself has talked about how the courts are faster this year and how it might explain how some players made it farther in the draw then expected. i would expect the courts to be less bouncy if they are faster
Hmmmmm, players say these kinda things every year, and argue about it. If Fed is saying it, it probably is faster. But he I think players also who like fast conditions wanna psych themselves into believing its truer than it actually is.
They do all the numbers somewhere that tells us how much faster or slower it is than last year, I've seen the Wimbledon comparisons, year to year, how the speed changes before.
It might be faster but it's still the Australian Open, doesn't seem fast enough for Fed to beat Nadal, at all. Aussie open, even if faster this year, is usually owned by defensive players, Djocko, Agassi.
I called Nadal handling Dimitrov with ease, pinning him back into the backhand keep it high there. He'll do it even more brutally to Federer. Federer, in the last 5 years has only beaten Nadal when the condistions are very specific. Either very fast, or very low. Fed is basically a god when it's both. That's what he is the most fine tuned for. Few years ago, either Paris or Shanghai, Nadal only took 3 games off Fed, cuz of the insanely low bounce.
Australian Open isn't really going to give Fed those conditions. Poor guy, even the last Wimbledon was decided on conditions. Wet slow day, made it pretty easy for Novak. Believe it was the same thing the year before, more so, where he didn't let Murray play in the semis, but serve was ineffective on final on a overcast slight rainy final.