Did Wimbledon really make the balls heavier and shorten the grass to slow the court??

Question

I keep seeing contradicting evidence on this. I read an article that Wimbledon is now the second slowest court behind only the French, however, another website contridicts this. Anyone know if they did this?

Answer 1

Here is what I found:

Martin (Pal Park, NJ): Has the surface and balls at Wimbledon changed so much that serve and volley play is dead? Also, how would a prime Pete Sampras do against Federer today? I think Sampras would overwhelm him with his pure offensive power and attacking game, despite the mighty Fed's all around game.

Todd Martin: (4:12 PM ET ) Martin: The surface maybe has changed a bit, the balls have gotten a bit heavier, but the strings are the biggest change on grass. Topspin is much more common now with polyester strings. Topspin doesn't penetrate as much but it also makes for much greater margins of error (easier to hit passing shots).

This is from http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?e...

Also...

Adverse conditions

The All England Club did no favours for Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski, two of the game's best serve-and-volleyers, by making the balls heavier and the grass thicker in a bid to improve the spectacle. Henman's tactics were left all at sea, whereas Rusedski could only blast his way to the fourth round before succumbing to the refined Xavier Malisse.

Answer 2

i read an interview from Federer and he said that the Grass is not slower.I have the feeling that people are saying that because baseliner like Nadal have good results in Wimbledon.I think that he just improved a lot.